The Supreme Court on Friday said that it has received report from the committee of experts headed by its former judge, Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre that was tasked to investigate whether there has been regulatory failure in dealing with the alleged contravention of laws pertaining to the securities market in relation to the Adani Group or other companies and to suggest measures to strengthen the statutory and regulatory framework.

Stating that they have received the report from the committee of experts appointed by it, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice J B Pardiwala said that Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will get another three months to complete its probe into Adani related volatility in the securities market and not six months sought by it.

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The court said that it will pass its order on Monday (May 15).

“The report of the committee headed by Justice Sapre has been received in the registry and we can see the report over the weekend. Let us list this on Monday. We will pronounce orders on your application seeking time on Monday,” the bench said.

Making it clear that it cannot grant six months’ time sought by the securities market regulator, the court said, “We cannot grant six months now. There needs to be some alacrity in the work. Put together a team. We can list the case in August mid and have the report then. Six months cannot be given as a minimum time. SEBI cannot take an indefinitely long period and we will give them 3 months.”

The bench said this while hearing an application from SEBI seeking a six-month extension.

The top court had on March 2, 2023,  appointed a committee of experts headed by Justice Sapre, comprising O. P. Bhatt, Justice J. P. Devadhar (retired), K.V. Kamath, Nandan Nilekani and Somashekhar Sundaresan. The committee was asked to suggest measures to secure compliance with the existing framework for the protection of investors.

The court had ordered SEBI to apprise the expert committee of “the action that it has taken in furtherance of the directions of this Court as well as the steps that it has taken in furtherance of its ongoing investigation.”

SEBI seeks more time to complete probe.