The Securities & Exchange Board of India is considering introducing plea bargain in about a month to trim the large backlog of cases in which it is involved. This is along with other measures to simplify its regulations.
'Plea bargain' is a tool of settlement under which someone charged with a violation can avoid further prosecution by paying a penalty, promising not to repeat the offence and giving a commitment to report a similar offence by another entity. It is frequently employed in the US to expedite cases.
As many as 3,000 cases are pending in various courts and tribunals disputing the Sebi's decisions. These include more than 500 cases pertaining to collective investment schemes such as plantation.
Some of these are a decade old. There are about 1,000 cases in magistrate courts. Besides, there are about 4,000 cases involving violation of the takeover code.
The Sebi Act already gives the market regulator the power to compound the offence. Plea bargain is likely to make an entry under this Act only, by giving more powers and flexibility to the Sebi officials.
The Sebi is also simplifying its regulations, many of which are old and some perceived as outdated. The regulations will be revised one at a time and the new draft put on the Internet to invite comments. The entire re-writing exercise may take up to a year.
The market regulator, inspired by the Reserve Bank of India model, is also simplifying its circulars.
A master circular, combining all current circulars relating to intermediaries, will be issued to all intermediaries and segments regulated by it. Once this is done, only one circular will have to be referred to. For example, there will be only one circular for mutual funds.
The master circulars are likely to start coming out early next year.