Key managerial personnel penalty challenge failed after the Tribunal followed earlier decisions from the same investigation.

The Tribunal held that the penalty could not be sustained on the basis that the appellant was a key managerial personnel in two companies under the Companies Act, 1956, because the same controversy had already been decided in earlier appeals arising from the same investigation. Those earlier decisions were treated as directly governing the present dispute and were followed. The challenge to the penalty therefore failed, and the appeal was dismissed.

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Issues: Whether the penalty imposed by the Adjudicating Officer could be sustained on the basis that the appellant was a key managerial personnel in two companies under the Companies Act, 1956.

Analysis: The Tribunal noted that the same controversy had already been decided in earlier appeals arising from the same investigation. It treated those decisions as squarely covering the present dispute and followed them.

Conclusion: The challenge to the penalty failed and the appeal was dismissed.

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