Judgment

Vikramajit Sen, J.

1. This Appeal assails the Judgment dated 17.8.2005 pronounced by the Securities Appellate Tribunal (hereinafter ‘SAT’) directing the Appellant as well as the National Stock Exchange (NSE for brevity) to continue to grant the Respondent the “fee continuity benefit” as was available to them before the NSE decided to permit segmental surrender of membership to its members. In response to the fee demanded by the Appellant, namely the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI for short), the Respondent has paid, albeit under protest, the principal amount of Rs. 4,37,20,256/- together with Rs. 26,96,590/- being the interest accrued thereon. The factual matrix is that on 27.5.1994, Oracle Stocks and Shares Ltd. (hereinafter ‘Oracle’) was registered by the NSE as a Trading member in two segments, that is the Wholesale Debt Market (WDM) as well as in the Equity Market/Capital Market (EM/CM). Subsequently, on 14.1.1999, Oracle informed the NSE that it had entered into a 50:50 Joint Venture with Prebon Holdings B.V. (Prebon Group), namely Prebon Yamane (India) Ltd. (the Respondent), but restricted in respect to the WDM segment alone. NSE advised Oracle to bifurca