Adani-Hindenburg case The Hindenburg report need not be taken as gospel, says Supreme Court

1. Adani-Hindenburg case: The Hindenburg report need not be taken as gospel, says Supreme Court

2. On 24th November 2023, the Supreme Court observed that the Hindenburg Research report should not be regarded as gospel. According to Adani Supreme Court hearing they are not required to accept the Hindenburg report as a statement of truth while considering the petitioners’ arguments regarding the factual revelations presented in the report. The Supreme Court went on to state that the Hindenburg report’s integrity could not be independently verified, which is why it had requested that the S.E.B.I. look into the case. The bench noted that they are not required to accept the Hindenburg report as factually correct ipso facto. They requested that the S.E.B.I. look into this. As they have known the information since 2014, the petitioners called the market regulator’s actions “suspicious.” The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (D.R.I.) allegedly provided information to the Chairman of the S.E.B.I. in 2014.

3. Yet to determine the report’s credibility In the Adani Supreme Court hearing, the petitioners seeking a probe objected to claims of conflict of interest against members of the committee it constituted to investigate the allegations against the Adani Group in the report. The court told them it could not determine the report’s accuracy until the authorities investigated it. Leading a three-judge panel, Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud of India said, as a court, how do they treat it as credible? They will have to rely on their investigating agencies to conduct an investigation. They must thus request that their investigative departments look into those claims. The findings of the Hindenburg report do not automatically imply that the court has to accept them as fact. They gave SEBI instructions to look into this.

4. The Chief Justice of India voiced his displeasure with the S.E.B.I.’s accusations In the Adani Supreme Court case, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud voiced his displeasure with the accusations against the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The only regulatory body tasked with looking into stock market manipulation is SEBI. Is it appropriate for a court to declare that it will create its SIT (Special Investigation Team) because it doesn’t have the necessary evidence? The CJI informed advocate Prashant Bhushan, who was appearing on behalf of the petitioners, that this needed to be done carefully. He also said that he didn’t think anything published in a newspaper could be considered gospel truth. It was in response to Bhushan’s claim that the market regulator had not conducted a thorough investigation.

5. Releases marking the expert committee In addition, the CJI conveyed his disapproval of the petitioners’ accusations regarding the Expert Committee members’ lack of objectivity, which were raised during the Adani Supreme Court hearing in March 2023. The Chief Justice, JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra made up the bench that dismissed the petitioners’ accusations against the Expert Committee. A lawyer named Prashant Bhushan had made accusations that some committee members were connected to the Adani Group and had conflicts of interest.