Sebi employees protest at Mumbai HQ, seek chief Madhabi Puri Buch’s resignation: Report

The protest went on for about a couple of hours, following which, the employees dispersed and returned to their offices, according to a Moneycontrol report.

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“The protest is for the purpose of showing dissent and unity against the arm-twisting exercise done by the top management in the garb of a press release,” Moneycontrol quoted an internal message among the employees as saying.

“The immediate demand is withdrawal of press release and resigning of SEBI chairperson for spreading lies against SEBI’s employees,” the message read, according to the report.

Why did the Sebi employees protest?

Some Sebi employees had sent a letter to the Finance Ministry last month stating that working at Sebi was full of “immense pressure.” with a “stressful and toxic work environment.”

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In response, Sebi said “outside elements” made employees believe they should not be required to have high standards of performance and accountability. However, the regulator did not elaborate any details on the stated elements.

What happened with Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch?

This also comes at a time when US-based activist short seller Hindenburg Research LLC (also behind the report on the Adani group of companies) alleged conflicts of interest on the part of Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, with Buch and her husband previously having held investments in offshore funds used by the Adani Group.

Zee’s Subhash Chandra has also called her “corrupt,” and the Congress alleged that she continued to earn from ICICI bank, where she had worked previously.

Buch has denied all the allegations.

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