Adani-Hindenburg : Supreme Court To Pass Orders Tomorrow On Constituting Committee To Review Regulatory Mechanism

The Supreme Court will pass orders tomorrow on constituting an expert committee to review the regulatory mechanism in the light of Adani-Hindenburg issue.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala had decided to constituted an expert committee to analyse if the regulatory mechanism needs to be strengthened to protect Indian investors from the kind of market volatility which was witnessed following the release of the Hindenburg Research report against Adani Group.

Notably, the bench had refused to accept the names proposed by the Central Government in a sealed cover for inclusion in the proposed committee. "We will select the experts and maintain full transparency. If we take names from the government, it would amount to a government constituted committee. There has to be full (public) confidence in the committee", CJI Chandrachud had orally observed on February 17 while reserving orders. The CJI also clarified that the Court will not start with a presumption of failure of regulatory framework in the Adani issue.

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta had informed the bench that the Central Government was agreeable to the Court's suggestion to constitute an expert committee. But the law officer urged the Court to ensure that the move does not unintentionally create an impression that the regulatory mechanism has inadequacies.

The bench reserved the orders on the PILs filed by Advocate Vishal Tiwari, Advocate ML Sharma, Congress leader Jaya Thakur and Anamika Jaiswal. While the petitions filed by Tiwari and Sharma sought investigation against the Hindenburg report for causing losses to Indian investors, the petitions of Thakur and Jaiswal sought investigation against Adani group on the basis of the allegations levelled by Hindenburg.

It was on January 24 that US-based Hindenburg published its report accusing Adani group of widespread manipulations and malpractices to inflate its stock prices. Adani Group refuted the allegations by publishing a 413-page reply and even went to the extent of terming it as attack against India. Hindenburg shot back with a rejoinder, saying that 'fraud cannot be obfuscated by nationalism' and stood by its report.