Adani row: SC rejects govt’s sealed cover suggestion for panel, says full transparency needed

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to accept the sealed cover report submitted by the Centre, stating that they want to have complete transparency. The sealed envelope had suggestions for the committee that the apex court had advised the government to create in order to look into the fall in Adani Group stocks following the Hindenburg Research report, and recommend improvement in statutory and regulatory regimes.

The apex court stated that “true facts” should come out from the expert panel without impacting stock markets. The advice to form the committee came from two PILs that were filed in the Supreme Court in the Adani-Hindenburg case.

"We don't want sealed cover suggestions. Even if we don't accept your suggestions, the other side will have the impression that we accepted the government-adopted committee. I want to have complete transparency. We will appoint our own committee and a sense of trust should be there," said CJI Chandrachud on Friday.

“If you're not intending us to disclose the names then trust us to appoint our own independent persons,” said the Chief Justice.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Friday submitted the remit to the bench headed by the CJI.

On Monday, Mehta had stressed that the remit of the committee should be very relevant because any unintentional message to the international investors and domestic investors that even a regulator or statutory monitoring authority also needs a monitoring by a committee appointed by the Supreme Court may have some adverse impact on the flow of money.

He had sought that the court could permit the government to suggest the remit of that committee with possible suggestions of names of the committee in a sealed cover, as it may not be appropriate to discuss in open court hearing.

The court was hearing two PILs, one of which sought a direction to the Centre to constitute a committee monitored by a retired apex court judge to inquire into the Hindenburg Research report, while the other one sought prosecution of short-seller Nathan Anderson of Hindenburg Research and his associates in India and the US for allegedly exploiting innocent investors and the "artificial crashing" of the Adani Group's stock value in the market.

Adani Group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after the Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against the business conglomerate. The Adani Group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.

Also read: Adani-Hindenburg row: Govt prepares list of names for expert committee