Supreme Court Dismisses Petition To Review Judgment Which Refused SIT/CBI Probe In Adani-Hindenburg Matter

The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition seeking review of its January 3 verdict which rejected a plea to direct a court-monitored investigation by a Special Investigation Team or the Central Bureau of Investigation into allegations in the Hindenburg Research report against the Adani group companies regarding violations of stock market regulations.  

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra dismissed the review petition filed by one of the PIL petitioners, Anamika Jaiswal, saying that "there was no error apparent on the face of the record" of the January 3 judgment.

"No case for review under Order XLVII Rule 1 of the Supreme Court Rules 2013. The review petition is, therefore, dismissed, the bench said in its order passed on May 8.

In the January 3 judgment, the Supreme Court endorsed the investigation which was being carried out by the SEBI, saying that there was no ground to doubt the investigation. The Court also held that there were no valid grounds raised to direct the SEBI to revoke its amendments on FPI and LODR regulations. The Court held that these regulations do not suffer from any infirmities.

The Court also noted that the SEBI has completed its investigation in 22 out of 24 cases. Taking into account the assurance of the Solicitor General, the Court directed the SEBI to complete the investigation in the remaining 2 cases within a period of three months.

The Court refused to accept the reliance placed by the petitioners on newspaper reports and the report of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) to doubt the SEBI probe.

On January 24, 2023, US-based short-selling firm Hindenburg Research published a scathing report accusing the Adani Group of widespread manipulations and malpractices aimed at inflating its stock prices. In response, the Adani Group vehemently refuted the allegations by publishing a comprehensive 413-page reply.

Subsequently, a group of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) was filed in the Supreme Court by Advocates Vishal Tiwari, ML Sharma, Congress leader Dr. Jaya Thakur, and activist Anamika Jaiswal. These PILs sought a court-monitored probe into the matter.

Case : Anamika Jaiswal v. Union of India Review Petition (Civil) No 376 of 2024

Click here to read the order