The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted Sebi time till August 14 to complete its probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani group and asked the market regulator to place on record an updated status report of the probe. A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud also directed that copies of the report submitted before it by the apex court-appointed Justice (retd) AM Sapre expert committee be made available to the parties to enable them to assist it in further deliberations in the matter.
When Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for SEBI, requested the top court to consider extending the deadline till September end, the bench said, “We are not granting an indefinite extension of time. If there is some genuine difficulty, you let us know.”
The bench, also comprising Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala, was hearing the pleas filed on the Adani-Hindenburg row.
It was also considering SEBI’s application seeking extension of time by six months to complete the probe into allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani group. “SEBI is granted an extension of time till August 14, 2023, to submit its report,” the bench said, adding, “SEBI shall place on record an updated status report with regard to the course of investigation.”
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for one of the petitioners, referred to a reply given by the Minister of State for Finance in Parliament in July 2021 about SEBI investigating some Adani group companies with regard to compliance with SEBI regulations.
He argued that in recent times, despite many complaints having been made to SEBI over the last six-seven years, it appeared that they are doing “absolutely nothing despite it being written on the wall”.
“You pick up something in 2016, something in 2020 and connect them with the present issue which is arising from the Hindenburg report,” Mehta said while responding to Bhushan.
“I want to just clear the air. 2016 is something totally different, distinct and completely separate. My friend now wants that whatever investigations or proceedings were taken against a particular company till now should be placed on record. I don’t think that is the remit but I have no difficulty,” the top law officer said.
He said the Minister of State for Finance in his reply to Parliament on July 19, 2021 had confirmed that SEBI is investigating some Adani group companies with regard to compliance with regulations.
“It may be noted that the investigation referred to was in respect of possible non-compliance with Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) norms, and consequential violations. This investigation commenced in October 2020. It is hereby confirmed that the investigation referred to by the minister had not commenced in 2016,” Mehta said.
He said SEBI has made a statement to the apex court that it is examining or investigating the allegations made in the Hindenburg report and one of these allegations was related to non-compliance with MPS norms. Mehta said SEBI has also submitted to the court that the current status of this investigation has been placed before the expert committee constituted by the apex court.
The Solicitor General said the six-month period is the “compressed time limit” and the court may consider extending the time available till September end for the probe to conclude. “You tell us what you have done because we had already granted you two months. We have granted you a further extension of three months which makes it five months. So, effectively you are asking for six months. We have granted you five months already,” the CJI said.
“We have not specifically dealt with each individual issue but we have said that you will give us an updated status report on the course of the investigation...,” Justice Chandrachud said.