Sebi Proposes Direct Arbitration for Complaints in Securities Market

New Delhi, Apr 21 (PTI) Markets regulator Sebi on Monday proposed offering a direct arbitration mechanism for resolving disputes in certain cases with claims of at least Rs 10 crore and those which are chronic and repetitive in nature.

These are part of Sebi's proposal to tweak framework for Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) in the Indian securities market in a bid to provide clarity and better implementation.

In its consultation paper, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) proposed to include depositories formally in the ODR system and suggested market infrastructure institutions (MIIs) to jointly formulate a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on operational aspects of the ODR portal and functioning of ODR institutions.

It proposed some cases should skip conciliation and go straight to arbitration. These include claims of over Rs 10 crore, chronic/repetitive complaints, cases filed by certain institutions, recovery claims by trading members, cases where both parties agree to arbitration, time-barred/legal issue cases flagged early.

If arbitration is not opted, the case will be closed in the ODR portal but can still be pursued legally outside the system, it added.

"In case of complaints/disputes: (i) with financial claim equal to or exceeding Rs 10 crore (ii) complaints having chronic in nature and repetitive... then all such cases shall be referred directly for arbitration," Sebi proposed.

The regulator suggested that conciliation settlements should be electronically accepted and legally binding. Further, ODR institutions should have separate panels for conciliators and arbitrators. One person cannot serve in both roles.

"The conciliators and arbitrators on the panel of the ODR institutions shall be evaluated annually," Sebi proposed.

As far as SOP concerned, Sebi suggested it should cover step-by-step instructions, stages, procedures to be followed by MIIs and ODR institutions in dealing with various operational aspects such as how to lodge complaints and required documents, how to handle repetitive or invalid complaints, roles in each stage (pre-conciliation, conciliation, arbitration) how to record proceedings, fee payments and enforcement of awards and actions to be taken against rule-breaking market participants.

The SOP should be posted online and reviewed annually.

The regulator has sought public comments till May 12 on the proposal.