SC forms five-member expert committee to look into Hindenburg report on Adani Group, to be overseen by retired SC judge

A view of Adani Corporate House at Shantigram outskirts of Ahmedabad.
| Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI

The Supreme Court on March 2, 2023, formed a five-member expert committee to examine Hindenburg Research firm’s damning report on the Adani Group. The committee with be monitored by a former Supreme Court judge.

The order was passed by a three-judge Bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala.

The expert committee’s members are former SBI chairman O.P. Bhatt, Justice J.P. Devadhar (retired), veteran banker K.V. Kamath, Infosys co-founder Nadan Nilekani and advocate Somasekhar Sundaresan. It will be monitored by former Supreme Court judge A.M. Sapre.

The committee will look into extant regulatory framework to protect investors, strengthen investor awareness, contravention of law, if any, by the Adani Group. They shall file their report in a sealed cover in two months.

SEBI and other agencies will co-operate in every way with the work of the expert committee, the Bench said adding, the formation of the committee does not reflect on the work of the SEBI and other agencies.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud had reserved the case on the point of constitution of the panel on February 17.

The court had refused to accept in a sealed cover the government’s suggestions about the names and mandate of the committee, saying that public confidence would take a hit if an impression was created that the Centre was steering the process with the court’s nod.

Hindenburg has accused the Adani Group of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud schemes over the course of decades”.