Designated Body

When an investor complains about a stock broker on SEBI's SCORES portal, SEBI does not handle it first. The complaint goes to the broker, and a Designated Body keeps watch over how the broker deals with it.

For a stock broker, the Designated Body is the stock exchange. It makes sure the broker files its Action Taken Report (ATR) on time, and if the investor is not satisfied, it carries out the first review. Only if the investor is still unhappy does the complaint go to SEBI for a second review.

Think of it as a two-storey building: the Designated Body is the first floor, SEBI the second.

Revised SCORES framework (Chapter 7, section 7.2.2.1; SEBI circular dated September 20, 2023)

If the investor is satisfied or does not seek a review within 15 days, the complaint is disposed on SCORES. A second-review complaint counts as resolved only when SEBI disposes or closes it; filing an ATR is not enough.

SCORES 2.0 (from April 1, 2024) built this in: monitoring by Designated Bodies, a two-level review (first by the Designated Body, second by SEBI) and auto-escalation when the entity or the Designated Body misses a timeline. For complaints against a stock exchange's members, the Investor Charter describes the same two-level review: first by the exchange, second by SEBI.

Deposits. Under the ODR framework, SEBI may ask market participants to keep an interest-free deposit with the MIIs or with the designated body identified under the revised SCORES guidelines, to honour arbitral awards.

Dates are illustrative; the day-counts are the workbook's.

Vikram lodges a SCORES complaint against his stock broker on 2 June after first raising it with the broker.

1. Broker's ATR is due within 21 calendar days: by 23 June. The broker uploads it on 20 June. The stock exchange, as Designated Body, has been tracking that deadline.
2. Vikram is unhappy. He can ask for a first review within 15 calendar days of 20 June: by 5 July. He asks on 1 July.
3. The exchange seeks clarification from the broker and must file a revised ATR within 10 calendar days of 1 July: by 11 July. It files on 9 July.
4. Vikram can ask for a second review within 15 calendar days of 9 July: by 24 July. If he does nothing, the complaint is disposed.
5. He asks on 15 July. SEBI takes up the second review. The complaint is closed only when SEBI disposes of it.

If the exchange had not filed its ATR by 11 July, SEBI could have taken up the second review anyway.

Chapter 7, section 7.2.2.1 (SCORES) sets out the Designated Body's role in the September 20, 2023 framework and SCORES 2.0; section 7.2.3 describes the two-level review for complaints lodged with exchanges; section 7.3.11 mentions deposits with the designated body. Expect questions on who the Designated Body is for a broker (the stock exchange) and on the 21, 15, 10 and 15-day sequence.

• For stock brokers, the Designated Body is the stock exchange, not SEBI and not the depository.
• First review: Designated Body. Second review: SEBI.
• 21 days (entity ATR) → 15 days (ask first review) → 10 days (Designated Body's ATR) → 15 days (ask second review).
• A second-review complaint is closed only when SEBI closes it.
• Contradiction inside Chapter 7. An older paragraph in section 7.2.2.1 still describes a one-time review within 15 days of closure, escalated to the supervising official of the SEBI dealing officer. The revised framework and SCORES 2.0 (April 1, 2024) replace this with the two-level review. Answer with the two-level review unless a question is clearly about the older one-time option.