Hapless investors under the Rajalakshmi Unit Scheme (RUS-93) who saw UTI prematurely terminating the scheme, have reason to smile, for a change, with the staying of the scheme termination.

News reports in leading dailies indicate that the termination of RUS-92 has been stayed by the Bombay High Court until further notice.

What seemed a distant possibility a few days has actually happened. Most investors had resigned themselves to their fate and had assumed that with the government behind it, UTI was going to get away with discontinuing the scheme. Investors will now be pleasantly surprised with the Bombay High Court's stay order.

However a disconcerting point in this affair is the indifference on the part of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The latter has been very slack in dealing with UTI, even while pulling up other fund houses, for smaller sins of omission. The bias in SEBI's stand is unmistakable. Thousands of investors are asking what SEBI has done for them in this whole affair, so far. In fact, SEBI's silence on this subject has given UTI a shot in the arm.

For the time being, the stay order will put UTI's RUS- 92 termination in limbo. It is anybody guess what will happen after that. But one thing seems certain SEBI will have to play a more active role in this issue, if it wishes to live up to its self-assumed task of safeguarding the investor's interests. Otherwise there is the imminent danger of it losing the confidence of the investor community and being perceived as an impotent force.

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