Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Feb 15: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear the petition filed by Congress leader Dr. Jaya Thakur on February 17 seeking investigation against the Adani Group.
This comes following the report released by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research alleging that the ports-to-power conglomerate has inflated share prices of its companies through manipulations and malpractices.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud heard the case and listed it as urgent. On February 24, CJI first consented to list it. However, the attorney emphasised that two further related matters are scheduled to be listed on February 17. The CJI subsequently consented to combine the petition with the other two petitions.
In addition, Thakur’s petition requests an investigation into the Life Insurance Corporation and the State Bank of India for allegedly investing ‘huge amounts of public money’ in the FPO of Adani Enterprises at a price of Rs 3200 per share when the going rate for the shares in the secondary market was about Rs 1800 per share.
The petitioner requests an investigation by investigating authorities like CBI, ED, DRI, SEBI, RBI, SFIO, etc. under the supervision and surveillance of a sitting Supreme Court judge after alleging that Gautam Adani and his colleagues ‘swindled thousands of crores of public money.’
It should be mentioned that the Supreme Court is currently deliberating over two further PILs that call for an investigation into Hindenburg Research for allegedly manipulating the stock market through short-selling. The Supreme Court had voiced worries about safeguarding Indian investors from this kind of market volatility last Friday while deliberating on those petitions, and it had asked the Union Government and the SEBI for their opinions on bolstering the regulatory framework. An expert committee should be formed to assess the regulatory structure, according to the bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud. The Court was careful to stress that it wasn’t questioning the authority of SEBI or other authorities while making these observations.
