A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia, dismissed the petition filed by Dalals after observing that they have made unlawful gains by cornering shares of the IPO and that Sebi rightly imposed penalty on them.

"You have made a profit of Rs 4 crore. What kind of transaction is in it. No one knows the value of it," said the bench rejecting the plea of Dalals that their IPO transaction was genuine.

On July 22, 2009, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had imposed a penalty of Rs 6 crore for irregularities in various Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) by Dalals and said that if they failed to do so, they would be debarred from trading in stock markets for seven years.

After analysing IPOs of various companies between 2002 and 2005, Sebi found that certain brokers had opened Demat accounts in fictitious names and through them cornered large number of shares of several companies in violation of norms.

Later, these brokers transferred the shares from these accounts to Dalals -- the husband-wife duo who acted as financiers and sold stocks on listing days, making huge profits.

Dalals, who were Chartered Accountants, had financed two operators, Budhwani and Sugandh, and cornered shares of 10 IPOs - Shoppers Stop, Suzlon Energy, IL&FS, IDFC, Sasken Communications, MSP Steel, FCS Software, Provogue, Gateway Districtpark and Nectar Lifescience.

After findings, Sebi issued notices to them seeking explanations about their unlawful earning of Rs 4.94 crore. Later, Sebi imposed a penalty on them.

Sebi move was challenged by Dalals before the Securities Appellate Tribunal, which also rejected their appeal on November 11, 2010.

Following it, Dalals had approached the Supreme Court.