The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal filed by Srishti Rustagi, who had sought details from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) about an alleged insider trading angle in the allocation of shares during an Offer for Sale (OFS) by WABCO India Ltd. The court upheld a previous single-judge order which had ruled that such information is exempt from disclosure under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Background
Rustagi had originally lodged a complaint in September 2021 on SEBI's SCORES portal, claiming that a large chunk of the OFS allocation went to related parties. In its response a few weeks later, SEBI stated that 97% of the shares were allotted to domestic mutual funds, and her allegations were not supported by the data. The insider trading part of her complaint was forwarded to a different department for necessary action.
Frustrated by the lack of updates, Rustagi filed multiple RTI requests in 2022 asking about the status of the ongoing investigation. SEBI's Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) replied that complaints were treated as "market intelligence" and that any regulatory actions, if taken, would be published on SEBI’s website. Dissatisfied, she went through the entire RTI appeals process - first appeal, second appeal before the Central Information Commission (CIC) - and eventually approached the Delhi High Court after all her pleas were rejected.
Court's Observations
Hearing her Letters Patent Appeal (LPA 306/2025), the division bench of Chief Justice Devender Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela pointed out that Rustagi had already been given the "status" of her complaint. What she was seeking now was essentially information about an ongoing internal probe.
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"The respondent had conveyed that examinations and investigations are conducted confidentially, and disclosure of such details could impede the process," the bench noted, reading from SEBI’s RTI reply.
The Judges underlined that Section 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act specifically allows authorities to deny information if its disclosure might interfere with an investigation.
They also endorsed the reasoning of the CIC and the single judge who had earlier held that premature disclosure of internal probes might cause unwarranted speculation in the market, disturb evidence collection, or even harm third parties.
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Decision
In its final order, the bench firmly declined to intervene.
"Apart from the status of the complaint, the nature of investigations stands exempted… and thus cannot be disclosed," Justice Gedela said while reading out the operative part of the judgment.
With this, the court dismissed Rustagi’s appeal and all pending applications, leaving each side to bear its own costs. The ruling effectively closes her attempt to obtain SEBI's internal investigation details through the RTI route.
Case Title: Srishti Rustagi vs Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) & Ors.
Case Number: LPA 306/2025
