Sebi Chairman C.B. Bhave has announced that a committee will be set up to review the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, popularly known as the Takeover Code. "These rules keep evolving, and we are forming a committee to review the entire takeover rules," Mr. Bhave told reporters.

Former presiding officer of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), C Achutan [pictured] will head the committee. Lawyers Somasekhar Sundaresan, the Capital Markets Partner at J. Sagar Associates, Mumbai, and Kumar Desai, Advocate, the Bombay High Court, will also form part of the committee. When contacted, Mr. Sundaresan declined to comment, saying, "I shall express my views only through the committee" The committee also comprises the CEO of Tata Steel, Kaushik Chatterjee and the CFO of L&T, Y. M. Deosthalee, among others.

The Takeover Code was previously reviewed in 2002. The review exempted preferential allotments from the purview of the Code, changed the rules governing indirect acquisitions and called for mandatory disclosures at every level of an acquisition.

Sources feel that the present committee may address issues relating to the creeping acquisition limit, the trigger limit for open offers (currently set at 15 per cent of a company's shares) and indirect acquisitions.