The Supreme Court announced on Thursday that it will hear the plea filed by TMC MP Mahua Moitra on October 14. The petition seeks a legal mandate for the public disclosure of the ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) and the portfolio holdings of Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) and Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) operating in India, along with their intermediaries.
The matter came up before a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan.
SEBI’s Response Deemed Insufficient
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing Moitra, informed the court that he had filed the response received from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to the detailed representation the petitioner had previously made.
The Supreme Court had, on April 1, directed Moitra to make a detailed representation to SEBI on the issue. Bhushan stated that while SEBI did reply, their response, which was received in September, effectively failed to address the core problem outlined in the petition.
Bhushan argued that SEBI’s reply stated that the issue is covered under the regulations of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). However, he countered that this reply “does not satisfy what we were asking for,” asserting that the prayer in the petition—which is to mandate transparency and investor awareness—remains unaddressed.
Petition Amendment Not Necessary, Says Counsel
When the bench suggested that the writ petition should be amended, Bhushan argued that amending the main petition was not necessary since the original prayer—seeking public disclosure for transparency—was unchanged. He agreed, however, that the document containing SEBI’s reply and their response would be incorporated into the memorandum of the writ petition by filing an appropriate amendment application.
The court then posted the matter for the next hearing on October 14.
Moitra’s Public Interest Litigation (PIL) centers on the need for transparency and investor awareness in India’s financial markets. Her plea contends that SEBI, which regulates the securities markets and oversees the operations of AIFs and FPIs, must mandate the public disclosure of UBO details and portfolio holdings to ensure market integrity.