Around 200 employees of capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) held protest on September 5 at the headquarters in Mumbai. They were protesting against a recent press statement by SEBI calling their earlier letter on toxic and unprofessional work culture to Finance ministry “misguided by external elements”. The protest lasted for a couple of hours and then the employees dispersed and returned to their office.
According to SEBI’s statement on Wednesday, the claims of unprofessional work culture at its offices were ‘misplaced’.
"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," said an internal message sent among the employees, according to a report by Moneycontrol.
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The message added that the immediate demand is withdrawal of the press release and resignation of SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch for spreading lies against SEBI’s employees.
In a letter to the finance ministry on August 6, around 500 SEBI officials made a complaint about the leadership and HR practices that encouraged a ‘toxic work culture’ at the organization under the leadership of chairperson Buch. The letter titled ‘Grievances of SEBI Officers – A Call for Respect’, accused SEBI’s senior management of using unprofessional language, setting unrealistic targets, and monitoring “minute-by-minute” movement of the employees.
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“Shouting, scolding and public humiliation have become a norm in the meetings,” SEBI employees said in the letter.
The letter also criticized the management for focusing on technological advancement while neglecting “best-in-class man management, leadership, and motivation methods.”
The protests came after SEBI issued a press statement on Wednesday evening saying that the HRA (house rent allowance) issues of staff are being misguided by external elements to target credibility of SEBI and its leadership.
According to SEBI’s statement, a group of employees consciously designated a strategy to change the narrative to frame the issue as relating to the work environment, with an objective to gain bargaining power to seek more benefits.
After seven days, apparently as part of the strategy, a second letter was submitted with a long list of 16 demands, for numerous monetary and non- monetary benefits including increase in HRA. Further, automatic promotions at lower performance ratings without interviews has also been “demanded”, the press release said.
These seem to stem from instances such as under-pitching of processing capability of officers by as low as one-fourth of actual capacity, mis-reporting of status of achievement of KRAs, shuttling of files between departments over a long period to avoid taking decisions, “adjusting” appraisal marks of poorly performing officers to “somehow” make them eligible for promotion.
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“In such instances, the officers concerned have been held accountable and given firm feedback, and corrective actions are taken against them,” the regulator said.
It also stated that it is unfortunate that some elements have tried to diminish the significant capabilities of SEBI employees by instigating them to believe that they should not be required to have high standards of performance and accountability.
Currently, SEBI chief Buch is facing a wave of accusations against her including allegations from Hindenburg regarding the investigation in alleged Adani Group scam, corruption allegations from Zee Group founder Subhash Chandra, and questions about her integrity from the Congress due to her previous roles at ICICI Bank and ICICI Securities. However, Buch has strongly denied all the allegations.
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On August 10, 2024, US based short-seller Hindenburg Research alleged that Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch previously held stakes in Mauritius and Bermuda based funds used in money siphoning scandal by the Adani Group.
The Congress party levelled charges of conflict-of-interest allegations against Buch, stating that she held an office of profit at the ICICI Bank and received income despite drawing a salary from the SEBI. However, the bank denied of paying any salary or granting ESOPs to Buch after her retirement on October 31, 2023, as alleged by the Congress.
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