Dear Sir\Madam
SEBI vide SOP Circular ref. no. SEBI/HO/CFD/CMD1/CIR/P/2020/48 dated January 22, 2020 (erstwhile circular ref. no. SEBI/HO/CFD/CMD/CIR/P/2018/77 dated May 03, 2018) directed the Exchanges?to?put?in place?a?framework to monitor submissions?made by listed entities and?to initiate?actions such as?levy of penalties, moving of security to ‘Z’ category, freezing of promoter holdings and suspension of trading in securities of non-compliant listed entities
Further, SEBI in its above-mentioned Circulars directed the Exchanges that they may deviate from the actions prescribed in SOP Circulars, if found necessary, only after recording reasons in writing.
In view of the above, the Exchanges constituted Internal Committees for reviewing the requests received for waiver of SOP fines based on the extant norms. In order to achieve the objectives of streamlining the process of disposal of waiver requests, expediting the disposals and maintaining uniformity of action/decision involving commonly listed companies, the Exchanges in consultation with SEBI have agreed that waiver applications received from commonly listed entities shall be segregated so that only one of the Exchanges will process the application and the decision shall be binding on all other Exchanges which have levied penalties on the Companies for the same non-compliance. It has also been agreed that a nominal processing fee shall be charged by the Exchange tasked with the disposal of the waiver application.
The details of the said policy on procedural aspects including the applicable processing fees, shall be effective for applications seeking waiver of SOP fines, submitted to the exchanges on or after April 1, 2022, is provided at Annexure I – “Processing of waiver applications by the Exchanges in case of commonly listed entities”.
While filing an application for waiver request as per this circular, the Company is also advised to refer to the Policy for Exemption of Fines which provides basis for seeking waiver of SOP fines. In order to assist the companies, an illustrative list of scenarios which may lead to rejection of waiver requests has been put together and be read together with the Policy for Exemption of Fines. The same is provided at Annexure II – “Illustrative list of scenarios for rejection of waiver requests”.
The process as mentioned herein including manner of the allocation of companies between the Exchanges as applicable for the period April 01, 2022, to September 30, 2022, are provided as Annexure III – Indicative List of Companies.
It may be noted that the aforesaid mechanism for processing will be applicable only to the companies that are listed on more than one Exchange. In case of Exclusively listed companies, i.e., companies listed on only one Exchange, the waiver shall be processed by the Exchange where the company is listed. However, the process followed for such waiver shall be as according to the Annexure I– “Processing of waiver applications by the Exchanges in case of commonly listed entities”.
All listed companies are directed to take note of the same and ensure compliance.
In case of any clarification, you may contact the following:
bse.soplodr@bseindia.com
The circular shall be effective from April 01, 2022.
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Ashok kumar Singh
AGM-Listing Compliance
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Shyam Bhagirath
Manager-Listing Compliance
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March 31, 2022
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