In the Adani-Hindenburg case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said there were no grounds for taking away the investigation of the Adani group of companies in the Hindenburg report from the market regulator.
It granted the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) three months to complete the investigation of two pending matters and also refused to interfere in the agency’s matter.
The CJI-led bench refused to nix SEBI’s Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) regulations, saying courts cannot enter into the domain of regulatory regime. The apex court also refused to interfere with SEBI’s probe into the episode and declined to set up a SIT.
The apex court said the Centre and SEBI would look into whether Hindenburg Research violated any law on short-selling. If there is a violation, they may take any action in accordance with law.
“The power to transfer investigation must be exercised in exceptional circumstances. Such powers cannot be exercised in the absence of cogent justifications,” Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said.
Advocate and petitioner Vishal Tiwari said, “The Supreme Court has very clearly said that whatever report, given by any third party, cannot be taken as a conclusive proof and there must be evidence that may support the case.”
Notably in August last year, an investigation conducted by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) found that two Mauritius-based funds, namely the Emerging India Focus Fund (EIFF) and the EM Resurgent Fund (EMRF) had invested and traded in large volume of shares of four Adani companies between 2013 and 2018. Two key foreign investors of these funds were Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli from the UAE and Chang Chung-Ling from Taiwan.
On the report, the Supreme Court said that it cannot be taken into account to doubt the investigation and findings by SEBI. The CJI said that a “third-party organisation report without any verification cannot be relied upon as a proof”.
Moreover, the Court also said that media reports cannot be considered as conclusive evidence but only as inputs in such cases.
In the verdict, the Supreme Court has cautioned that petitions lacking adequate research and relying on unverified materials can be counterproductive to the public interest jurisprudence.
Ahead of the verdict, the market cap of Adani Group crossed the Rs 15 lakh crore milestone climbing from its all-time low of Rs 5.8 lakh crore.