Adani-Hindenburg row: SC backs SEBI probe, says no to SIT

New Delhi: The Supreme Court announced its verdict on Wednesday on a batch of petitions on the Adani-Hindenburg row over allegations of stock price manipulation by the Indian corporate giant.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra delivered the judgement saying that the power of the court to enter the regulatory framework of SEBI is limited.

SC further said that no valid grounds were raised to direct SEBI to revoke its amendments on FPI and LODR regulations, the regulations do not suffer from any infirmities.

SC informed that the SEBI has completed the investigation in 20 out of 22 matters and directed the SEBI to complete the investigation in the other two cases within 3 months.

The apex court also holds that there is no ground to transfer the investigation from SEBI to SIT. There is no ground to transfer the probe in this case from SEBI, CJI said.

SC says that the report of OCCPR cannot be taken into account to doubt the SEBI investigation.

Further, CJI said that the Govt of India and SEBI shall take into consideration the recommendations of the committee to strengthen the interest of the Indian investors.

The Govt of India and the Sebi to look into whether there is any infraction of law by the #Hindenburg report on short selling and if so, take action in accordance with the law.

Reliance on newspaper reports and third-party organisations to question the statutory regulator does not inspire confidence. They can be treated as inputs but not conclusive evidence to doubt the SEBI probe.

The judgement on the PILs, filed by lawyers Vishal Tiwari, M L Sharma and Congress leader Jaya Thakur, and Anamika Jaiswal, was reserved on November 24 last year.

The pleas claimed the allegations that the Adani Group, considered close to the Modi government, inflated its share prices.

The Adani Group stocks got bludgeoned on the bourses after Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including those about fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against the business conglomerate.

The Adani Group dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.