Finance secretary Ashok Chawla on Wednesday urged regulators Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) to quickly move court to resolve their dispute over regulation of unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips).
?We want them to go to court at the earliest. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had declared status quo ante, which means whatever prevailed before the date of the Sebi order will continue unhindered. That is what Sebi has said,? Chawla said.
Meanwhile, Irda officials worked on Wednesday (a holiday) to prepare a legal note for filing a joint application?also containing Sebi?s inputs?in a court.
?Irda has prepared a structure of the legal note which will be presented to its board in a day. After it is vetted by the board, it will be sent to Sebi. Then Sebi will add comments to prepare a joint application to be filed with a court,? a senior Irda official said, requesting anonymity.
Till Wednesday evening, Irda did not issue any rejoinder or clarification to Sebi?s directions on Tuesday, wherein, it barred insurance companies from launching any fresh or new Ulip products without registering with Sebi.
Sebi, however, kept in abeyance its earlier order barring 14 companies to collect any premium even on existing Ulips?implementing the truce brokered by Mukherjee between the two regulators on Monday.
?There is no fresh clarification. The earlier one stands good,? Irda chairman J Hari Narayan said in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Narayan did not respond to calls and messages on his phone.
Life Insurance Council secretary general SB Mathur said it is yet to receive any clarification from Irda. ?We are taking it (the second Sebi order) up with Irda. We will go by what Irda decides (on whether the firms could issue fresh Ulips),? Mathur said.