Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on November 25 said it has no reason to ‘discredit’ Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which probed allegations against the Adani Group, as there was no material before it to doubt what the market regulator has done and the court does not have to treat what was set out in the Hindenburg report as a ‘true state of affairs.’
While asking the SEBIwhat it intends to do in future to ensure investors don’t loose wealth due to volatility in stock market or short-selling, the apex court observed it would not be proper for it to set up a special investigation team (SIT) on its own without any material before it.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, which reserved its order on a batch of pleas concerning the Adani-Hindenburg row on allegations of stock price manipulation, said it cannot ask a statutory regulator to take as a ‘gospel truth’ something which was published in the media.
“We don’t have to treat what is set out in the Hindenburg report as ipso facto (automatically) a true state of affairs. That is why we directed the SEBI to investigate. Because for us to accept something which is in the report of an entity, which in not before us and whose veracity we have no means of testing, would really be unfair,” the bench, comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, told advocate Prashant Bhushan, who was appearing for one of the petitioners.
