The exchange has decided to forward a list of such companies to the Registrar of Companies (RoC) to take suitable action against them, said BSE sources.

Once a board meeting to declare dividend is announced, it leads to price fluctuations. Therefore, by first convening the meeting and then opting out of it leads to a fall in the scrip price after a significant rise. This strategy can be misused by vested interests and hence the BSE's concern on the matter.

``Such announcements using the platform of the exchange leads to unusual price formations which attracts small investors and provides an exit point for the promoters and other large shareholders of the company,'' said a BSE broker.

``This offence is even more dangerous than the insider trading cases,'' he further explained.

As per BSE records, thefirst phase of fiscal 1997-98 has seen about 8-10 companies which had initially declared the dates on which dividend would be considered by the board of the company and later deferred it, in some cases even without assigning any reasons.

The companies whose names figure in the list sent to the RoC during the first week of April include Nath Pulp & Paper, Jord Engineers, JF Laboratories, Dewan Steel, Gujarat Perstorp, Kunal Overseas, Sol Pharma and Padmini Polymers.

The listing agreement of the exchange empowers them to suspend or delist a company on grounds of either violation of listing or other agreements with the exchange. ``This, however, only troubles the investors as they end up getting trapped,'' said the source.

According to sources, BSE is also working out strategies by which the directors of such companies could be penalised for misguiding the investors.

It should be recalled that the advisory committee on secondary market reforms set up by Sebi, which met on April 20, also closely studiedthe issue in the interest of investors, especially in the B2 group stocks.

In the recent past, there have been cases of price sensitive information not reaching investors on time. Sebi and the stock exchanges have begun analysing the pitfalls in the system which need rectification.