The Securities and Exchange Board of India has penalised media organisation New Delhi Television Limited Rs 10 lakh for lapses in mandatory disclosures. The market watchdog also imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh on the company’s co-founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, former Chief Executive Officer Vikramaditya Chandra and former compliance officer Anoop Singh Juneja in an order dated March 16.
In its 23-page order, SEBI said in 2014 the company had failed to disclose about Rs 450-crore income tax demand and the sale of a few shares by a top company executive. “These people constitute the management of the company who are responsible for the day-to-day and overall operations of the company,” the order read. “Further, it is an admitted fact that the decision not to disclose the tax demand was a conscious decision taken by the management of NDTV.”
The regulator conducted the investigation after a company called Quantum Securities Private Limited, a shareholder of NDTV, had filed a complaint. SEBI noted that the news organisation had been already fined Rs 2 crore in a different proceeding on the non-disclosure of the Rs 450 crore income tax demand.
The regulatory body had also issued notices to the company’s former Executive Vice Chaireperson KVL Narayan Rao, but the proceedings against him abated due to his death in 2017.
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