Gautam Adani-Hindenburg Row: Apex Court Refuses to Accept Sealed Cover Suggestion by Central Government; SC Will Appoint a Committee on Its Own
(Judicial Quest News Network)
The Apex Court on Friday rejected the suggestion of a sealed cover names of experts by Union Government for including in the committee to be set up to examine the Adani Adani group-Hindenburg Issue which has adversely effected the share market resulting in the loss of a $ 120 billion to Adani Group.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said that the court will instead appont a committee on its own since accepting the government.s sealed cover suggestion could give animpression that it is a government appointed committee.
The Apex Court further sadi that it would not set-up acommittee under a sitting SC Judge to enquire into the Hindenburg-Adani Issue, the issues calls for a complete transparency and if the court accepts the government suggestion, it would amount to keeping the other side in the dark.
“We will not accept the sealed cover suggestion by you because we want to maintain full tyransparency 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,” said the CJI.
When the matter was taken today, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted a sealed covernote regarding the remit of the proposes committeeand also members.
The Bench asked the petitioners in each case to present their points of view.
Till date there are four PILs filed in this case by different people.
Vishal Tiwari AOR’spetition seeks the constitution of a committee headed by a retired Supreme Court Judgeto investigate the contents of the Hindenburg ResearchReport.
Adovcate Manohar Lal Sharma’s petition seeks directions to SEBI and Union Home Ministry to conduct an inquiryand register a First Information Report (FIR) against founder of Hindenburg research, Nathan Anderson, and his associates in India.
Sharma has also filed an Application for a gag order to halt media reports concerning listed companies unless such reports are first filed with and verified by the SEBI.
Another plea filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur sought the prosecution of the Adani group of companies under various laws and questioning the decision of the State Bank of India (SBI) and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to invest in Adanishares at allegedly inflated prices.
She also seeks a probe by a committee under a sitting Supreme Court Judge.
Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared for another petitioner who was seekingprobe against Adani group reporters based on Hindenburg report.
“Your prayer assumes guilt Mr. BHushan “, CJI Chandrachud Said.
“Facts through Hindenburg report shows thatoffshore fundswere usedand this effectively meant that percentage of shares held by promoters’ exceededthe SEBI regulatoion… Thwen this is very important what is the source of funds of the Shell companieswhich have been allegedlyused to invest large sums… Bhushan submitted.
“Was LIC used to facilitate the price manipulationof Adani Shares?he further asked.
When Bhushan attempted to suggest the names of judges who can be included in the committee, the bench stopped him, saying that since the court did not accept the Centre’s suggestions. It can’t accept petitioner’s suggestion too.
