Forum of trial under the SEBI Act held procedural, so post-amendment complaints proceed before the Sessions Court.

An amendment to section 26(2) of the SEBI Act that changed the forum of trial to a Court of Sessions was held to be procedural and therefore applicable to complaints filed after the amendment, even where the alleged offences pre-dated it. The transfer of such complaints from the Magistrate to the Sessions Court was upheld because a change in forum does not affect substantive rights and no litigant has a vested right to insist on the earlier forum. Objections based on loss of appellate or revisional remedies also failed, and the complaints were permitted to proceed before the Sessions Court.

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Issues: Whether complaints under the SEBI Act, filed after the amendment but relating to offences committed before the amendment, were triable by the Court of Sessions or by the Magistrate, and whether the transfer of such complaints to the Sessions Court was without jurisdiction.

Analysis: The amendment to section 26(2) of the SEBI Act altered only the forum of trial by providing that no court inferior to a Court of Sessions shall try offences under the Act. The change was procedural in nature and, applying the settled principle that procedural amendments operate retrospectively unless the statute indicates otherwise, complaints filed after the amendment were required to be tried by the Sessions Court even if the alleged offences occurred earlier. The administrative transfer orders were supported by the amended statutory framework and therefore did not amount to an impermissible exercise of administrative power. The petitioners' objection based on loss of appellate and revisional remedies also failed because a litigant has no vested right in a particular forum, and a change in forum does not extinguish the right of appeal.

Conclusion: The Sessions Court had jurisdiction to try the complaints, and the transfer of the cases from the Magistrate to the Sessions Court was valid.

Final Conclusion: The writ petitions failed and the impugned transfer orders were upheld, leaving the complaints to proceed before the Sessions Court.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an amendment merely changes the forum of trial and does not affect substantive rights, it operates retrospectively on pending and future matters, and the accused has no vested right to insist on the former forum.

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