A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud hearing the PILs on the recent Adani Group shares crash triggered by Hindenburg Research‘s fraud allegations reserved its order to appoint a committee to probe the matter.
The single bench judge reserving the order refused to accept sealed cover names of experts as suggested by the Union government for inclusion in the committee to be set up to examine the issue. “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,” the CJI said.
The Supreme Court further said that it would not set up a committee under a sitting SC judge to inquire into the Hindenburg-Adani incident. However, it said it would set up the committee headed by a retired SC judge.
On Feb 10, the apex court underscored the protection of Indian investors against market volatility in the backdrop of the Adani Group stock rout and asked the Centre to consider setting up a panel of domain experts headed by a former judge to look into strengthening the regulatory mechanism.
The Centre accepted the suggestion however, said that the govt would suggest the names of experts to be included in the committee. Stressing on the statutory bodied like SEBI, the centre has maintained that market regulators are fully equipped and are on job- in a message to the investors that the regulatory bodies in India needed monitoring by a panel may have some adverse impact on the flow of money into the country.
So far four PILs have been filed in the SC on the issue following a massive crash in the stocks of Adani Group companies following the US short-seller Hindenburg Research which accused it of indulging in stock manipulation based on its report dated Jan 24th 2023.