With the board of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, SEBI, divided on the issue related to its lawful right to inspect if the committee appointed to look into the National Securities and Depository Limited (NSDL) matter, it was decided on Monday that an independent legal opinion will be sought.

The legal view will help SEBI determine whether or not it can assess that the appointed committee had acted within the terms of reference elucidated by the board decree; and till the time a legal opinion remains pending, the board will "withhold the orders of the committee."

Constituting two part-time members, the committee was appointed in early 2008, in order to sort out the conflict of interest inherent in circumstances whereby the current SEBI Chairman, CB Bhave, was the Chairman of NSDL for the 2003-05 period of the IPO scam. The scam period saw 50,000 `benami' accounts being opened with NSDL as well as Central Depository Services Limited (CDSL).

According to sources, the committee has reportedly faulted NSDL, a decision which explicitly hints at the indictment of Bhave who, as per the established precedent, recused himself from the discussions and decisions pertaining to the NSDL issue. Though the committee had issued final orders in December 2008, they are still to be implemented and made public!