Adani Case: Supreme Court rejects sealed cover suggestion by central government

In response to the Hindenburg report on Adani,the Supreme Court declared that it will appoint the committee on its own.

The Central government’s recommendation about the Hindenburg Research study on the Adani Group of Companies and the resulting market effect was rejected by the Supreme Court on Friday.

A bench made up of the Chief Justice of India (CJI), DY Chandrachud, and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala decided against adopting the government’s sealed cover proposal since doing so may give the appearance that the committee was created by the government.

The Court emphasised that full transparency is required in this case and that accepting the government’s request would equate to keeping the other party in the dark.”We won’t accept the sealed cover suggestion by you because we want to maintain full transparency and if we accept suggestions in sealed cover it is like we have kept it away from other side as people will think it is a government appointed committee,” the CJI said.

The Court made it clear that in order to maintain transparency, if we accept suggestions, we must inform the opposing party.Therefore, the bench declared, “We will select the committee’s members independently.”Before reserving its decision in the case, the bench then heard from the petitioners.Additionally, the Court made it clear that it would not name a sitting judge to the committee to look into the matter.

The Central Government’s argument that the report’s influence on the market was nonexistent was similarly rejected by the Court.”But, based on what you mentioned, the impact on the market is nothing. Yet statistics show that investors suffered losses of lakhs of crores “The Court made a comment.

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Four petitions regarding a report written by short-seller Hindenburg Research, claiming conglomerate fraud that cost the Adani Group losses of over $100 billion, were being heard by the court.Nathan Anderson, the founder of Hindenburg Research, and his accomplices in India were the subject of a First Information Report (FIR) filed by attorney Manohar Lal Sharma with the SEBI and the Union Home Ministry.

Sharma also submitted a request for a gag order to prevent media coverage on publicly traded firms unless they are first submitted to and approved by the SEBI.

Vishal Tiwari, an attorney, requested that a commission led by a former judge of the highest court conduct an investigation of the Hindenburg report. Moreover, Tiwari has asked for the creation of a special committee to monitor a procedure for approving loans worth more than 500 crore.

Another petitioner, Congress politician Jaya Thakur, questioned the decisions of the State Bank of India (SBI) and the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to purchase Adani shares at allegedly inflated rates and called for the prosecution of the Adani group of companies under several laws.

Thakur further requested that a judge on the Supreme Court conduct the investigation.The court today heard Anamika Jaiswal’s further argument.The bench had already expressed worry over the losses incurred by concerned Indian investors, which totaled several lakh crores.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), according to prior statements from the Central government to the Supreme Court, is well prepared to handle any consequences from the report.