New Delhi : Sebi, worked as a markets watchdog ,recently has forced a penalty of Rs.25 lakh on Steelco Gujarat Ltd and its promoter group Spica Investments for not fulfilling with the least public stockholding norms within the mandated timeframe.

A Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) investigation found stated as, “the entities had not taken appropriate steps to comply with the minimum 25 per cent shareholding in the company.”

In June 2010,Sebi has delivered guidelines wherein all listed companies were essential to comply with the least public shareholding obligation of at least 25 % on or before June 3, 2013.

As per the regulator, “the shareholding of the promoters of Steelco Gujarat Ltd (SGL) had increased to 78.26 per cent during February 2002 to June 2002.”

Meanwhile, Sebi said "the noticees were able to comply with the minimum public shareholding requirement only on August 06, 2014, resulting in a delay of 14 months."

Sebi said, “ these entities have failed to comply with the clause of Listing Agreement and thus violated provisions of Securities Contracts Regulation Act.”

The regulator has added, "I find that if SGL had taken appropriate steps to increase its minimum public shareholding to 25 per cent within the stipulated three years timeline ... the said delay would not have occurred,"