Justice Kumar Rajaratnam, Presiding Officer. - Appeal is taken up with consent of parties.

2. The appellant, Padmini Technologies Ltd., challenges the order passed by the Adjudicating Officer wherein the Adjudicating Officer has imposed a penalty of Rs. 10 lakhs for failure to redress the investor grievances within the time stipulated by the Board.

3. SEBI had issued a show-cause notice dated 19-8-2003 to the company alleging that the company had not redressed 321 complaints of the investors which was pending as on 22-4-2003, and asking them why an inquiry should not be held in terms of rule 4 of SEBI (Procedure for Holding Inquiry and Imposing Penalty by Adjudicating Officer) Rules, 1995 and penalty imposed under section 15C of SEBI Act, 1992.

4. The appellant vide letter dated 23-9-2003 informed that more than 60 complaints were resolved. On verification by SEBI, it found that 73 complaints were resolved and 248 complaints were still pending out of 321 complaints. It was found that majority of the cases related to seeking transfer of share certificate, which does not incur financial outlay to the company unlike other complaints that relate to payment of dividend or interest on