New Delhi: Union Cabinet on October 28 decided to bring in ordinance for amending the SEBI Act and the UTI Act.

The approval for the two ordinances was given by the Cabinet at its meeting chaired by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh told reporters after the meeting.

The repeal of UTI Act would enable the government to split UTI into two.

UTI-I will be the old protected UTI comprising of US-64 for which assured repurchase prices have been announced and return schemes assured.

The UTI-II (the new UTI) will comprise of all net asset value based schemes, which will have a professional chairman and board of trustees and will in course of time, be privatised.

Government will meet its obligation annually to cover any deficit in UTI-I and it will be managed by government appointed administrator and a team of advisors nominated by the government.

Amendment to the SEBI Act will provide to the market regulator limited search and seizure powers for offences like market manipulation by companies.

PTI