Mumbai, Feb 13: MG Damani'a re-election as president of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) for a third term has received a jolt. It is learnt that the Sebi nominee on BSE's governing board, LK Singhvi, has resented its move to pass a resolution to this effect.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) nominee on the board, Chandramouli Saran, has also attached a dissent note, objecting to an extension of Damani's tenure. "At the meeting held on Tuesday, the Sebi nominee felt that the board could not pass a resolution to effect changes in its bye-laws to seek extension of the president's term. All it can do is to make a request to Sebi for the same," said a source.
Sources say the outcome of Singhvi's deliberations saw the governing board soften its stand and finally make an application emphasising on the "request" aspect. Saran was also against the BSE governing board's move to extend Damani's tenure. Questioning the rationale behind extending the term by another year, sources said that the RBI nominee had attachedhis dissent note with the application forwarded to Sebi for its clearance on the issue. In the meeting, Singhvi is believed to have informed the exchange board that it could only request for a change in its bye-laws and not pass a resolution to this effect. This is because the concerned bye-laws are applicable to not just the BSE, but to all stock exchanges. BSE members, however, contended that the move to pass the resolution was merely intended to get a vote on their views on the extension of tenure.
It is also learnt that the Department of Company Affairs (DCA) representative R Vasudevan also refused to acknowledge the other member's representations on giving Damani an extension.
BSE's governing board consists of 19 members, of which eight include elected brokers of the exchange, eight are non-elected representatives of the RBI, DCA and Sebi. Sebi sources, however, said it was not yet clear whether the matter would be taken up at the level of its chairman or the board.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
