NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on Wednesday on a batch of pleas filed by many, including lawyers and Congress leaders, seeking probe into the allegations of fraud made against Adani Group of companies on the basisis of Hindenburg Research report.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, and comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, will pronounce the judgement on Wednesday on pleas filed by lawyers Vishal Tiwari, Manohar Lal Sharma and Congress leader Jaya Thakur and others.
The apex court’s same three-judge bench had reserved its verdict on November 24 last year, after hearing from all the petitioners and respondents (SEBI), and the Union of India (UOI) and others in the batch of pleas.
Appearing for one of the petitioners in the case, advocate Prashant Bhushan had told the court that conduct of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the market regulator, in the matter had not been credible and trustworthy.
The petitioners had moved the court and alleged that Adani had inflated its share prices. After these allegations (part of a report by short-seller Hindenburg Research) were brought to light and also published, after that there was a sharp fall in share value of Adani Group of companies, reportedly to the tune of $100 billion.
The petitioners also alleged the changes to the SEBI Act had provided a ‘shield and an excuse’ for the Adani Group’s regulatory contraventions and market manipulations to remain undetected. The Supreme Court had earlier in March last year ordered the setting up of a six-member panel headed by former apex court judge Justice A M Sapre to probe the Adani Group shares crash triggered by the report.