Description

Appellate Authority order on five identical RTI appeals filed by Sundaresan against SEBI's CPIO, concerning information requests related to various financial regulatory bodies and statutes.

Summary

The Appellate Authority under SEBI disposed of five identical RTI appeals (Nos. 6734–6738 of 2026) filed by Sundaresan against SEBI’s CPIO. The appeals arose from five identical RTI applications, two transferred from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and three from the Department of Economic Affairs. SEBI responded via a common letter dated February 3, 2026, and the appellant filed appeals on February 8, 2026 on the ground of refusal of access to information.

Key Points

  • Five identical RTI appeals consolidated and decided by a single order.
  • Query No. 1 was found to contain no specific information request; the Appellate Authority agreed with SEBI’s CPIO that no actionable query was posed.
  • Query Nos. 2, 4–10, 12–31, 33–47, 51–56, and 59 sought information pertaining to entities outside SEBI’s purview (RBI, NHB, MCA, ICAI, ICSI, RERA, IBBI, DEA, DFS) and statutes such as SICA 1985 and IBC; SEBI held the information was not available with it.
  • The CIC precedent (Sh. Pattipati Rama Murthy vs. CPIO, SEBI, July 8, 2013) was cited: SEBI cannot invent information it does not possess.
  • Query Nos. 3, 32, 49, and 58 sought information about SEBI’s duties in insolvency recoveries under SICA 1985 and IBC.

Regulatory Changes

No regulatory changes introduced. This is an appellate order on RTI matters.

Compliance Requirements

No compliance requirements for market participants. The order pertains only to the handling of RTI requests by SEBI’s CPIO.

Important Dates

  • RTI applications transferred to SEBI: January 15, 2026
  • SEBI CPIO common response: February 3, 2026
  • Appellant’s first appeals filed: February 8, 2026

Impact Assessment

No market or operational impact. This is a routine administrative RTI appellate order with no bearing on trading, listing, or regulatory obligations for market participants.

Impact Justification

Routine RTI appellate order with no market-wide regulatory changes or compliance requirements for market participants. Pertains solely to an individual's information requests about various financial regulators.