Adani-Hindenburg report: Supreme Court orders setting up of six-member committee to probe recent share market crash

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday, 2 March, ordered the setting up of a six-member committee headed by former apex court judge AM Sapre to look into various regulatory aspects for stock markets, including the recent Adani Group shares crash triggered by Hindenburg Research’s fraud allegations.

A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said the panel will make an overall assessment of the situation, suggest measures to make investors aware, and also strengthen existing regulatory measures for stock markets.

The bench also directed the Centre, financial statutory bodies and the SEBI chairperson to render all cooperation to the panel which will have to submit its report within two months.

Former judges OP Bhat and JP Devdatt are also part of the probe committee.

The court also named Nandan Nilekani, KV Kamath and Somasekharan Sundaresan as three other members of the committee.

While reserving its order, the top court, on 17 February, refused to accept in a sealed cover the Centre’s suggestion on a proposed panel of experts.

Till now four PILs have been filed in the top court on the issue by lawyers ML Sharma, Vishal Tiwari, Congress leader Jaya Thakur and Mukesh Kumar, who claims to be a social activist.

Adani Group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against the business conglomerate. The Adani Group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.

Source: Press Trust of India