The Supreme Court of India has issued notices to the Centre government, capital market regulator SEBI and the President's advisor Omita Paul with regard to the controversial appointment of SEBI chief UK Sinha.

The notices were issued after some serious allegations were labeled in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by activist Arun Kumar Agrawal.

Activist Arun alleged in the PIL that UK Sinha lacked eligibility for the post as he didn’t reveal being privy to sensitive information from UTI, and that the selection committee was tweaked to appoint Sinha.

The PIL also alleged that Omita Paul, as the then finance minister’s advisor, played a key role in the appointment of Sinha as the chief of the market regulator.

The Supreme Court asked the Centre government describe under what authority of law it appointed Sinha as the SEBI chief.

The apex court has given the government, SEBI and Omita Paul four weeks to respond to the notices and explain their views on the allegations raised in the PIL.

It is the second time this month when the Supreme Court has issued notices to the Centre government. Earlier in September, the apex court issued notices to the government and criticized the government’s role in a case on controversial coal block allocations.

In the past two years, numerous judgments and interventions by the apex court have embarrassed the Centre government, most markedly when the court quashed the appointment of a bureaucrat as the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and when it ruled on the 2G case.