In a rare development, Ms. Shikha Gupta has opted out of the Executive Director role at SEBI after initially accepting the offer which was offered during the tenure of the former chairperson Ms. Madhabi Puri Buch.
In a coverage by Ms. Reena Zachariah in the The Economic Times titled “𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘬𝘩𝘢 𝘎𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘢 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘦𝘣𝘪 𝘌𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦”, Mr. Sumit Agrawal, Founder & Managing Partner at Regstreet Law Advisors, offers clear explanation of how these appointments work wherein he has stated that:
“𝘜𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘚𝘌𝘉𝘐 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦-𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 — 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘚𝘌𝘉𝘐’𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘳𝘦 — 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘌𝘉𝘐 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥.”
Mr. Agrawal is also of the view that the SEBI Chairman exercises overall supervisory and administrative authority under the SEBI Act.
The regulatory framework permits external appointments to Executive Director positions when suitable internal candidates are not available. According to the Schedule to the SEBI (Employees’ Service) Regulations, 2001, two-thirds of these posts are to be filled by internal candidates, while up to one-third, subject to a maximum of three positions may be filled through deputation or contractual appointments.
