Adani Hindenburg case: Supreme Court sets up experts panel, seeks probe report within 2 months |

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday set up a six-member panel of experts headed by a retired top court judge to assess the existing regulatory framework and make recommendations to strengthen it to protect investors in the wake of Adani-Hindenburg saga.
The panel constituted by the top court will be headed by retired SC judge Abhay Manohar Sapre and will include O P Bhat, Justice JP Devdhar, K V Kamat, Nandan Nilekani and Somasekhar Sundaresan.
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala said the panel will make an overall assessment of situation, suggest measures to make investors aware and strengthen the existing regulatory measures for stock markets.
SEBI has been asked to cooperate with a experts panel and complete the probe within two months and file a report.
The experts panel will then submit the report to the apex court in a sealed cover.
The SC bench said the constitution of expert panel does not divest Sebi of its duty to investigate the Hindeburg report.
While reserving its order, the top court on February 17 had refused to accept in a sealed cover the Centre’s suggestion on a proposed panel of experts.

Gautam Adani welcomed the Supreme Court order, saying that “truth will prevail”.
“The Adani Group welcomes the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. It will bring finality in a time bound manner. Truth will prevail,” he tweeted.
Till now four PILs have been filed in the top court on the issue by lawyers M L Sharma, Vishal Tiwari, Congress leader Jaya Thakur and Mukesh Kumar, who claims to be a social activist.
Some FAQs about the row
* What are Hindenburg allegations against the Adani Group
The Hindenburg Research, a US-base short seller, published a report on January 24 calling the rise of Adani Group as the ‘biggest con in corporate history’. The report alleged Adani group of stock manipulation and improper use of tax havens, and flagged concerns over debt levels.
* How has the Adani group reacted?
The Adani Group denied all allegations made by the Hindenburg research. But since the publication of report, the Adani Group has so far junked a $2.5 billion share sale by the flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd, scrapped new acquisitions, prepaid some debt, plan to repay more, reined in capital spends as well as hired top-shelf US crisis communication and legal teams. The group also held investor roadshows this week in Singapore and Hong Kong as a confidence-building measure, which have helped Adani stocks stage a rebound
* How has the Hindenburg report impacted Adani group?
Since the publication of the Hindenburg report, seven listed Adani group companies have lost more than $140 billion in market value. However, in the last two days, almost all Adani Group stocks are showing an upward tick.
Gautam Adani, who used to be the third richest person in the world, has dropped to 38th place in the world’s billionaires list.
(With inputs from agencies)