Former SAT chief Achuthan dies on way to Sabarimala
21 Sep 2011
Former chief of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) and chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India's Takeover Regulations Advisory Committee (TRAC), C. Achuthan, passed away on Monday, following a cardiac arrest.
The 70-year-old ex-bureaucrat and legal wizard was on his way to the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, on his annual pilgrimage, along with his son, when he suffered the arrest. A workaholic – on most days he put in 16 hours of work – the securities law expert had authored most of the securities legislation in India in recent years.
A member of the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission, which is headed by former judge B N Srikrishna, Achuthan was also involved in conceiving and then drafting the law that resulted in the formation of SEBI, the capital markets regulator.
Armed with a master's in economics and a law degree from Bombay University, Achuthan joined the Indian Legal Service and served the central government in several key positions. He was a legal advisor to the government, served on the Company Law Board and became the first presiding officer of SAT in 1997.
Critical of the functioning of the capital markets watchdog, Achuthan allowed more than a score of appeals to be filed against SEBI during his six-year term as the SAT chief. He decided appeals in several controversial cases involving companies such as Sterlite Industries, BPL, Videocon, Grasim, Wimco, Gujarat Ambuja and Anand Rathi Stock Brokers. He also heard the Ketan Parekh market manipulation case.
Though he retired from service, he was constantly in demand, with the government appointing him to many crucial posts.
After the Satyam Computer crisis, he was made an independent director by the central government in 2009 and helped the scam-ridden company emerge out of the mess. He also facilitated the takeover of the company by Tech Mahindra.
The former bureaucrat also help start a law firm, Corporate Law Chambers, and was frequently sought after for advice on complex legal issues by corporates and governments. ''I can't retire, I will keep working as long as the engine of the body is running,'' Achuthan told an interviewer last July after rewriting the takeover code as head of TRAC.