The Securities and Exchange Board of India on 30th May 2022, has notified the Standard Operating Procedure for dispute resolution under the Stock Exchange arbitration mechanism for disputes between a Listed Company and/or Registrars to an Issue and Share Transfer Agents (RTAs) and its Shareholder(s)/Investor. The new framework will come into force with effect from 1st June 2022.
The Arbitration Mechanism shall be initiated post exhausting all actions for resolution of complaints including those received through SCORES Portal. The Arbitration reference shall be filed with the Stock Exchange where the initial complaint has been addressed.
In case of arbitration matters involving a claim of up to Rs. 25 lakhs, a sole arbitrator shall be appointed and, if the value of the claim is more than Rs. 25 lakhs, a panel of three arbitrators shall be appointed. The arbitration and appellate arbitration shall be conducted at the regional centre of the stock exchange nearest to the shareholder(s)/investor(s).
The stock exchanges shall preserve the documents related to arbitration for five years from the date of arbitral award, appellate arbitral award or Order of the Court, as the case may be; and register of destruction of records relating to above, permanently.
The stock exchanges shall disclose on its website, details of disposal of arbitration proceedings and details of arbitrator-wise disposal of arbitration proceedings as per the formats prescribed by SEBI for already available arbitration mechanism.
