The second show cause notice issued on September 24 directed the "big bull" to appear before the DAC on September 25. Mehta has been suspended from the exchange ever since his alleged role in the securities scam of 1992 came to light. Mehta was not available for comments.

According to BSE, a letter from Mehta stated that a day's notice was not enough, since his schedule was decided a week in advance considering the he has to make personal appearance in several courts.

RC Mathur, executive director of BSE also confirmed the reason as to why the meeting of the DAC was postponed and the letter sent by Mehta.

The first show cause notice was issued to Mehta on June 25this year to appear before the DAC on June 29.

Sources at BSE hinted that Mehta had been summoned on account of his interview in a section of the press. The interview according to sources, could have far reaching damaging effects on the markets and hence needed to be reviewed and action needed to be taken against the same. Exchange sources said that his interview could have encouraged speculative activity in certain stocks.

Similarly, the DAC had also summoned seven brokers including Mehta for their alleged involvement in the price rigging cases at the bourse. The charges against them are on the basis of violation of byelaw 357 (v), which deals with "unwarrantable business", read with byelaw 355 (b) which seeks to levy a penalty on "misconduct, un-businesslike conduct and unprofessional conduct". They have also been charged for violating byelaw 360 (suspension on failure to provide margin deposits).

Interestingly, market sources hinted that Mehta and the seven brokers had made strong representations toboth SEBI and BSE to consider their cases under one umbrella, rather than interrogating them twice for the same reason.

It should be recalled that the DAC's meeting scheduled for June 29 was postponed then on account of SEBI's intervention. SEBI was not aware of the show cause notice issued by the exchange and hence sought postponement.

According to SEBI, the top brass of the exchange was dissuaded from conducting any such investigation till the time the regulator's investigation report was not completed.