The Bombay High Court has directed Reliance Industries to file an affidavit before January 14 in a case relating to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Central Information Commission (CIC).

Adjourning the case to January 21, a bench comprising Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice A.A. Sayed, directed the Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate to prove that a recent order passed by the Chief Information Commissioner, Satyananda Mishra, involving the company does not include “public interest”.

Appearing before the court, senior counsel representing RIL, Janak Dwarkadas, sought time to file a reply. Earlier this month, the court had directed SEBI lawyers to make RIL a party in the case and observed that the company should be given a chance to present their case.

On November 22, the market regulator had filed a petition against CIC, the country’s apex body monitoring the enforcement of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, after Satyananda Mishra asked SEBI to disclose all details related to an insider-trading case involving Reliance Industries Ltd in 2007. The CIC directed SEBI to disclose details following an RTI application filed by a Bangalore-based lawyer Arun Kumar Agarwal, to which the latter refused.

The court directed the SEBI lawyers to take instructions from the regulator if it could disclose the file notings and the underlying process of the consent route circular to the RTI applicant.

The court's observations came after Agrawal alleged that Mukesh Ambani-owned RIL and SEBI have been trying to resolve the case through a so-called consent process by paying Rs 10 crore, in which the individual or entity being investigated pays a fine and the regulator drops the case and also all charges of wrongdoing.

Priyanka.pani@thehindu.co.in

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