JUDGMENT: (Per G. S. Kulkarni, J.)

1. These are two petitions filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. The reliefs prayed for are quite similar, which pertain to challenging the action of the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange under the directives of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to freeze the Demat Accounts of the Petitioner. The first Petition No.1590 of 2021 is filed by Dr. Pradeep Mehta and the second Petition (Writ Petition No.2228 of 2021) is filed by his son Neil Pradeep Mehta. We proceed to adjudicate each of these Petition as under.

Writ Petition No.1590 of 2021 (Dr. Pradeep Mehta v/s. Union of India).

2. The challenge raised in the petition is to the freezing of the “demat account” of the petitioner by the respondent no. 6 – National Securities Depository Limited (for short “NSDL”) under the regulations / orders of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (for short “SEBI”) merely for the reason that at one time petitioner happened to be one of the promoters of a company. The case of the petitioner is that such action of the NSDL at the behest of the Bombay Stock Exchange (for short “BSE”) apart from being wholly illegal