The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) passed an interim order against Dish TV India on Monday asking the company to disclose its AGM (annual general meeting) voting results held on December 30, 2021, in the next 24 hours to both the exchanges. “The Compliance Officer viz. Mr. Ranjit Singh shall immediately, and in any case not later than 24 hours from delivery of this Order, ensure compliance with Regulation 44(3) of the LODR Regulations by disclosing the voting results of the AGM to both the Exchanges in the format prescribed,” Sebi said on Monday.
The company has not disclosed its AGM voting results held on December 30, 2021, despite several advisories from the market regulator and pressure from the high court. Usually, every listed entity is mandated to disclose the voting results within two days after the AGM has concluded.
In January, Yes Bank had approached the Bombay High Court after Dish TV failed to disclose its AGM results. The market regulator had also received complaints from other shareholders of the company and investors in the securities market regarding the same.
In an interim order on Monday, Sebi has further issued show-cause notices to Dish TV, its directors, and the CEO of the company.
“Entities no. 1 to 8, as listed in the beginning of this order, are hereby called upon to show cause as to why further appropriate directions under the provisions of Sections 11(1), 11(4) and 11B(1) of SEBI Act should not be issued against them and also why appropriate penalty shall not be imposed,” SK Mohanty, whole time member, Sebi, said in the order.
It further also asked the depositories to immediately freeze demat accounts of the directors and compliance officer of the company.
The issue stems from 2019 when Yes Bank invoked a pledge on equity shares of Dish TV held by the Essel Group entities after the group entities defaulted on payment of `5,270 crore in loans given by Yes Bank.
Later, in 2021, the Essel Group entity World Crest had filed a suit against Yes Bank and Catalyst Trustee in the Bombay High Court, claiming it is the owner of the equity shares, which are held in the demat account of Yes Bank.
