Gautam Adani-Hindenburg issue: Supreme Court refuses to accept sealed cover names for expert panel | India Business News

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to accept sealed cover names of experts as suggested by Union government for including in the committee to be set up to examine the Adani Group-Hindenburg issue.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India, D Y Chandrachud, said that the court would select the experts itself and maintain full transparency throughout the process. “If we take names from the government, it would amount to a government constituted committee. There has to be full (public) confidence in the committee,” the CJI said.
The Supreme Court further said that it would not set up a committee under a sitting SC judge to inquire into the Hindenburg-Adani incident. However, it said it would set up the committee headed by a retired SC judge.
On February 10, the top court had said the interests of Indian investors need to be protected against market volatility in the backdrop of the Adani Group stock rout and asked the Centre to consider setting up a panel of domain experts headed by a former judge to look into strengthening the regulatory mechanism.
Few days later, the Centre had accepted the Supreme Court’s suggestion for a retired judge-led committee to study the recent alarming fall of Adani group shares following short seller Hindenburg Research’s report and recommend improvements in statutory and regulatory regimes governing the securities market to protect investors against such future events.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had told the bench then that the government will suggest names of experts to be included in the committee in a sealed cover.
The apex court was hearing a number of PILs on the recent meltdown in Adani Group shares that was triggered by the Hindenburg Research’s fraud allegations in .

Stressing that statutory bodies like market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) are “fully equipped” and are on job, the central government had earlier expressed apprehensions that any “unintentional” message to the investors that regulatory bodies in India needed a monitoring by a panel may have some adverse impact on the flow of money into the country.
The Centre had told the bench, also comprising Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, that it wanted to provide details such as names and the scope of the panel’s mandate in a “sealed cover”.
Stock market regulator Sebi, in its note filed in the top court, had indicated it is not in favour of banning short-selling or sale of borrowed shares, and said it is investigating allegations made by a tiny short-seller against the Adani Group as well as its share price movements.

Till now, four PILs have been filed in the SC on the issue following massive crash in the stocks of Adani Group companies after US short-seller Hindenburg Research accused it for indulging into stock manipulation and fraud in a report released on January 24.
The Gautam Adani-led conglomerate has so far lost over $120 billion in market value in wake of the market rout.
(With inputs from agencies)
Watch Supreme Court calls for ‘transparency’ in Adani case, refuses Centre’s sealed cover submission