Adani-Hindenburg row: SC to hear PILs seeking probe on Wednesday

Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a batch of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed in the Adani-Hindenburg matter on Wednesday.

The PILs have sought probe into US short seller Hindenburg's allegations against Adani Group. The PILs are alleging exploitation of innocent investors and "artificial crashing" of the Adani Group's stock value and are seeking probe by multiple central government agencies.

Till now, four PILs have been filed in the top court on the issue including by lawyers M L Sharma and Vishal Tiwari and Congress leader Jaya Thakur.

The apex court had on March 2 asked SEBI to probe within two months the allegations against the Adani group and also set up a panel to look at providing protection to Indian investors after a damning report by Hindenburg wiped out more than $140 billion of the Indian conglomerate's market value. 

The Supreme Court on Friday said it will consider granting three more months to the Securities and Exchange Board of India to wrap up its probe into allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani group.

The CJI-led bench decided not to give much leeway to SEBI, which sought six months to conclude the probe, saying it has to show some alacrity and complete it within three months.

During the hearing, a lawyer appearing for petitioner Jaya Thakur referred to a March 2 order of the Supreme Court to claim there was regulatory failure on the part of SEBI and it cannot be granted extension in view of the fact that it was probing a matter related to shell companies registered in Mauritius since 2016 without any success.

A six-member committee headed by former apex court judge Justice A M Sapre, which was appointed by SC, has given its report on the matter in a sealed envelope.

The scope and ambit of the Sapre panel was to provide an overall assessment of the situation including the relevant causal factors which have led to volatility in the securities market in the recent past.

The panel was asked to suggest measures to ''(i) strengthen the statutory and/or regulatory framework; and (ii) secure compliance with the existing framework for the protection of investors'', the court said.

SEBI on Monday told the Supreme Court that it was not investigating the Adani Group since 2016 and termed such claims "factually baseless''.

The investigation mentioned in its earlier affidavit pertained to the issuance of Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) by 51 Indian firms and no listed company of Adani group was among them, submitted the market regulator which is seeking an extension of six months to complete a probe into allegations of stock price manipulation by the Gautam Adani-led group. On May 12, lawyer Prashant Bhushan had opposed the plea for the extension of time, saying SEBI was seized of some kind of investigation in the matter since 2016.

The fresh affidavit said that the application for extension of time filed by SEBI is meant to ensure ''carriage of justice keeping in mind the interest of investors and the securities market'' since any incorrect or premature conclusion of the case arrived at without full facts material on record would not serve the ends of justice and hence would be legally untenable.

Adani Group stocks had taken a beating 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.