The Supreme Court has issued non-bailable warrants against managing directors of 32  companies for not complying with its order.

The managing directors now face imminent arrest and will have to be produced in the top court by the Mumbai Police if they fail to get preventive orders.

The list of defaulting companies includes Akshar Mercantile, Beta Trading, Vinay Mercantile, Anoop Multitrade, Anshul Mercantile, Everfame Trading, Highzone Trading, Inorbit Trading Co., Laksh Mercantile, Maginot Trading, Montreal Trading, Newtree Mercantile, Sarveshwara Trading etc.

The NBWs were issued by a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Rohinton F Nariman on Friday. "Issue non-bailable warrants to the Managing Director of each of these Companies, returnable after four weeks," stated the court order.

The coercive action was taken after repeated failure by these companies to deposit a penalty of Rs 5 lakh each as ordered by the apex court in October 2016.

In its 2016 judgment, the Supreme Court had affirmed the SEBI's order in 2013 in a matter relating to former promoters of Bank of Rajasthan's (BoR) — the Tayal family, and other entities — for indulging in fraudulent trade practices.

The regulator had imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh each on Pravin Tayal, his brothers Sanjay Tayal and Navin Tayal, and his son Saurabh Tayal for acting in concert with around 100 other entities to misguide investors about the shareholding pattern of the bank.

The apex court upheld this order, and asked all these companies to pay up immediately. However, as they failed to deposit the fine, SEBI came to the court in 2017 by filing a petition on contempt of court.

The bench gave time to the defaulting companies to comply with the court order and show adherence but many of these entities still did not deposit the penalty.

SEBI published notices in newspapers and the court in September gave last opportunity but 32 companies did not comply. Expressing strong displeasure, the bench has now issued non-bailable warrants against the managing directors of these firms. #casansaar (Source - News18)