Gautam Adani welcomes the Supreme Court order to form six-member committee to investigate stock crash

Ahmedabad: Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, has welcomed the Supreme Court’s order to form a six-member expert committee to investigate the issues raised by the group’s stock crash, which was triggered by US short-seller Hindenburg’s report.

The Supreme Court appointed a six-member committee to investigate the Adani Group’s stock crash on Thursday. The committee is headed by retired judge Abhay Manohar Sapre, veteran banker KV Kamath, former SEBI chief OP Bhat, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, lawyer Somasekhar Sunderesan (whose appointment as judge is pending with the Centre), and retired Justice JP Devdhar.

The committee will conduct an overall assessment of the situation, recommend measures to increase investor awareness, and recommend measures to strengthen existing regulatory measures for stock markets, according to a bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud.

“The Adani Group welcomes the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. It will bring finality in a time bound manner. Truth will prevail” tweeted Gautam Adani.

The Supreme Court also ordered the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to complete its ongoing investigation and file a status report within two months.

Following the Adani group shares crash, which was triggered by Hindenburg Research’s fraud allegations, the Supreme Court was hearing petitions asking for a committee to look into ways to strengthen the regulatory mechanisms for the stock market.

The Supreme Court also directed SEBI to investigate whether there had been any rule violations or stock price manipulation.

SEBI stated in a note filed with the Supreme Court that it is not in favour of prohibiting short-selling or the sale of borrowed shares, and that it is investigating allegations made by a small short-seller against the Adani Group as well as its share price movements.

Adani Group shares fell after Hindenburg Research levelled a slew of allegations against the business conglomerate, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation.