Supreme Court strict on delaying SEBI probe in Adani-Hindenburg case, Congress again demands JPC

The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) time till August 14 to complete its probe into allegations of rigging of stock prices by a Gautam Adani-led group. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud ordered Sebi to file an updated status report on its probe into allegations of rigging share prices by the Gautam Adani-led group. Let us tell you that Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Pardiwala are also included in this bench of the Supreme Court. The bench ordered that the Justice AM Sapre committee report in the Adani matter be shared with all the parties so that they can assist the court in the matter. This report has been submitted to the court recently. The SAPRE panel was tasked with making a complete assessment of the situation, including the underlying causes of the recent volatility in the securities market. The panel was also asked to suggest measures to strengthen the legal and regulatory framework and follow up with the current mechanism to protect investors.

What happened in court?

Let us remind you that on March 2, the Supreme Court had ordered the formation of a six-member committee to probe the allegations of rigging share prices by the Gautam Adani-led group. The allegations against the business group were made by American short-seller company Hindenburg in its report. The Supreme Court will further hear the Adani Hindenburg dispute case on July 11. The bench said, “The time given to submit its report to SEBI is extended till August 14, 2023.” Extension of six months in the given time was requested. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for SEBI, told the bench that the request for extension of time till August should be reconsidered by the bench. To this the CJI said, “You tell us what you have done, because we had already given you two months’ time.” Then We gave you three months more time, which together you got five months. You are asking for six months. We have already given you five months’ time.” Justice Chandrachud told Mehta, “We are not giving indefinite extension in time. If there is a genuine problem, you tell us.” To this, Mehta requested whether the time to complete the probe could be extended till the end of September. To this the CJI said, “Mr. Solicitor, we have two options. We could have given you time till 30th September right now. Or you can file an affidavit by August 15 and tell what is the situation. We have not looked into each and every issue, but we have asked that you give us an updated status report on the investigation.

Let us also tell you that SEBI told the Supreme Court on May 15 that it has not been probing the Adani Group since 2016 and termed such a claim as “factually baseless”. He said that in his earlier affidavit, there was mention of investigation related to “Global Depository Receipts” (GDRs) issued to 51 Indian companies and none of the listed companies of Adani Group.

political recriminations

Meanwhile, the Congress has said that the scam involving the business group is a case of “political private partnership” and the truth can come out only through a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). Party general secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “In the Adani case, SEBI had asked for more time of 6 months, saying that it would take 15 months to review completely. The Supreme Court has given 3 months time. It is necessary to remind again and again that the investigation going on under the supervision of the Supreme Court is limited only to the violation of securities laws. Only the JPC will bring out the whole truth of the ‘Modani scam’, he said. Can.

According to Ramesh, “The destruction of every department of the government, especially India’s investigative and regulatory agencies, the focussing of our foreign policy on Modani’s financial interests, the framing of LIC, the State Bank and the EPFO, the interests of the shareholders, Compromising with the government and putting public money at stake, unaccounted remittances into India from offshore shell companies linked to Adani, and changes in rules and policies to facilitate Adani’s takeover in the country, are some of the topics that the JPC will investigate. Can do.” He said, “The Modani scam is a ‘PPP’ with a twist. This is truly a ‘Political Private Partnership’ (PPP) whose secrets can only be fully disclosed by the JPC of the Parliament.

On the other hand, Ramesh claimed in another tweet that since the listing of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in the stock market, its market capital has declined by 35 percent. He said, “LIC was listed in the stock market exactly one year ago today. Then its market capital was Rs 5.48 lakh crore. Today it has come down to Rs 3.59 lakh crore, ie a huge decline of 35 percent. The only reason for this sharp decline is Modani. Lakhs of policyholders have suffered serious losses in the process.” On the other hand, Bharatiya Janata Party’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya accused Ramesh of misleading people on the basis of incomplete information. Quoting a statement by LIC chief Siddharth Mohanty, he tweeted, “LIC’s investment in the Adani group is less than one per cent. LIC got crores from Adani group stock. There is no risk to the policyholders.