The Supreme Court will deliver its verdict in a batch of petitions seeking an examination of allegations of fraud made against the Adani Group of companies in the Hindenburg Research report, today.
The matter was reserved for judgement in November, 2023 by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
The case before the Court is tied to allegations that Adani had inflated its share prices. After these allegations were published as part of a report by short-seller Hindenberg Research, it led to a sharp fall in the share value of various Adani companies, reportedly to the tune of $100 billion.
This led to a batch of petitions being filed before the top court including a plea that alleged that changes to the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act had provided a 'shield and an excuse' for the Adani Group's regulatory contraventions and market manipulations to remain undetected.
Earlier last year, the Supreme Court asked SEBI to independently investigate the matter, apart from constituting an expert committee headed by retired Justice AM Sapre to also look into the matter.
The expert committee in its report released in May, found no prima facie lapse on the part of the SEBI in the matter.
During one of the hearings, the bench had remarked that the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) cannot be expected to follow newspaper reports while deciding on the conglomerate's alleged conduct.
In another hearing conducted on November 24, 2023, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had contended that media reports were now beingAdani-Hindenburg to influence India's actions.
"There is a growing tendency of planting stories outside India to influence decisions within India. One example is the OCCRP report," Mehta had alleged.
Case Title: Vishal Tiwari v. Union of India and Others