The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to order a SIT probe into the allegations levelled in the Hindenburg research report regarding stock manipulations by the Adani group of companies.
While pronouncing the verdict today, the Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud stated that there was no ground to transfer the investigation into the matter from SEBI. The top court bench rejected the arguments of petitioners regarding conflicts of interest on the part of the members of the Expert Committee. The bench added that the Indian government and SEBI shall take into consideration recommendations of the committee to strengthen the interest of the Indian investors.
CJI DY Chandrachud further mentioned that the SEBI has completed a probe in 20 out of 22 matters. He directed the SEBI to complete the investigation in other two cases within three months. The apex court underlined that the report of OCCRP cannot be taken into account to doubt SEBI investigation. In addition, the Chief Justice of India noted that the Centre and the SEBI should assess if there is any infraction of law by the Hindenburg report on short selling and if so, it directed to take action in accordance with law.
CJI DY Chandrachud also remarked that the power to transfer investigation must be exercised in exceptional circumstances and that such powers cannot be exercised in the absence of cogent justifications. He asserted that reliance on newspaper reports and third party organisations to question the statutory regulator does not inspire confidence, adding that those can be treated as inputs but not conclusive evidence to doubt SEBI probe.
A three judge bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra had reserved the judgement on November 24, 2023 on the Public Interest Litigations (PIL), which sought a court-monitored investigation into the allegation mentioned in the Hindenburg Research report regarding stock price manipulations by the Adani group of companies.
Earlier, during the hearing of the matter, the bench had orally remarked that there was no material to doubt the investigation carried out by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The three-judge bench had also expressed reluctance to accept the arguments against the impartiality of the members of the expert committee constituted by the court to examine the issue.