SC spikes Binny plea against Sebi probe

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real estate sector spanning 2014 to 2021. Earlier, the company had moved the Bombay High Court, seeking a stay on the investigation and urging it to direct Sebi to reconsider its settlement application. However, the Bombay high court dismissed the petition and ordered the company to bear the cost of Rs2.5 lakh for filing an appeal.

“We understand quite clearly now that the only purpose of the settlement application, and indeed these writ petitions were to prolong and delay the adjudication of the show cause notice," the Bombay high court order dated 4 July had said. “These petitions have taken an inordinate amount of time when our dockets are already overcrowded. We believe the petitions are fit cases for orders of costs," HC had added.

Following investor complaints, Sebi initiated a forensic audit of Binny’s books in 2021. Based on the findings, it issued a show-cause notice to the company on 24 November 2022. According to filings, Sebi’s show cause red-flagged at least five suspicious transactions done by the company promoters.

According to the Sebi notice, Binny has been under scrutiny for offering questionable advances amounting to ₹329 crore to certain related parties between December 2014 and April 2016. These advances were purportedly intended for land purchases. However, according to the charges, the company failed to adhere to proper procedures for such transactions.

Furthermore, Sebi has accused Binny of extending loans totalling Rs383 crore to related parties for the acquisition of windmills and land parcels. These advances remained outstanding in the company’s books from 2014 until 2021. Binny is listed on the BSE with a market capitalization of little over Rs600 crore and has over 10,000 retail investors,