Sources in Sebi told The Financial Express that the dates are being fixed and the case is now set for a decisive stage, and that Sebi had been waiting to resolve the issue of whether witnesses in the case would be cross-examined or not. Sebi is against allowing the witnesses to be cross-examined, since it feels that some of them may be won over, and it would set a dangerous precedent for all future Sebi cases.

The regulator has now secured a strong legal opinion which, while underscoring the importance of cross-examination of witnesses, is also reported to have said that it is also Sebi's discretion to allow cross-examination of witnesses or otherwise. While no Sebi official is commenting on this, indications available suggest that the regulator may not want to have the witnesses cross-examined.

Sebi has been going over the issue of cross-examination in detail and has been speaking to several legal experts in order to ascertain the exact position on the case. The regulator is of the opinion that allowing cross-examination of witnesses would also delay the cases in a major way, and none of the them would then come to their logical conclusion.

A Sebi source said: "The only reason why we were waiting for so long on the case is because of the fact that we did not have a clear picture on this crucial issue of cross-examining witnesses."

The regulator had earlier issued show-cause notices to the three companies and Harshad Mehta but hearings had failed to take place. Sebi had, of late, come in for sharp criticism for failing to complete the case on time.