Excessive delegation challenge to SEBI rule-making and registration fees fails where statutory purpose and parliamentary oversight exist.

The Delhi HC upheld the statutory delegation empowering SEBI to make rules and regulations for investor protection, securities market regulation, and intermediary registration, finding that parliamentary laying requirements supplied sufficient legislative control. It also upheld the registration fee provisions, noting that the levy applied to stock-brokers and intermediaries, not investors, and that the absence of separate minimum or maximum limits did not by itself make the delegation invalid where the statutory purpose and supervision were present.

---

---

Issues: Whether the provisions empowering the Securities and Exchange Board of India to frame rules and regulations, and to levy registration fees, amounted to excessive delegation of legislative power or were invalid for want of minimum and maximum guidelines.

Analysis: The statutory scheme conferred rule-making and regulatory power on the Board to carry out the purposes of the Act, including protection of investors, regulation of the securities market, and registration of intermediaries. This delegation was controlled by the requirement that rules and regulations be laid before Parliament, which provided legislative oversight. The provisions concerning registration fees applied to stock-brokers and intermediaries and did not levy any fee on investors. The challenge to the absence of minimum and maximum limits also failed, as delegation to regulate levy could not be invalidated merely because maxima or minima were not separately fixed where the statutory purpose and supervision were present.

Conclusion: The challenge failed; the delegation and fee provisions were upheld, and the petition was dismissed.

---