'Satyameva Jayate' Says Gautam Adani As SC Refuses To Interfere With SEBI Probe Into Adani-Hindenburg Case

Industrialist Gautam Adani said 'Satyameva Jayate' as the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) probe into the Adani-Hindenburg case.

The Supreme Court pronounced its verdict on a batch of petitions on the Adani-Hindenburg row over allegations of stock price manipulation by the Indian corporate giant. A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud had on November 24 reserved its verdict on the pleas.

"The power of this court to enter the regulatory framework of SEBI is limited. There are no valid grounds raised to direct SEBI to revoke its amendments on FPI and LODR regulations. The regulations do not suffer from any infirmities," India Today quoted the bench as saying.

"SEBI has completed investigation in 20 out of 22 matters. Taking into account the assurance of the Solicitor General, we direct the SEBI to complete the investigation in the other two cases within three months," it said.

The PILs were filed by lawyers Vishal Tiwari, M L Sharma and Congress leader Jaya Thakur, and Anamika Jaiswal.

The pleas claimed the allegations that the Adani Group, considered close to the Modi government, inflated its share prices and, after the report of the short seller Hindenburg Research, the share value of various group entities fell sharply.

"Reliance on newspaper reports and third-party organisations to question the statutory regulator does not inspire confidence. They can be treated as inputs but not conclusive evidence to doubt SEBI probe," the order stated.\

Responding to the verdict, Adani, on X (formerly Twitter), said, "Truth has prevailed." He then expressed that he was "grateful to those who stood by us." He added, "Our humble contribution to India's growth story will continue. Jai Hind."

While reserving the verdict, the bench had said it has no reason to "discredit" SEBI, which probed allegations against the Adani group, as there was no material before it to doubt what the market regulator had done. It said the court does not have to treat what was set out in the Hindenburg report as a "true state of affairs".

It had asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as to what it intends to do in the future to ensure investors don't lose wealth due to volatility in stock market or short-selling.

"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 had said.

Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan had argued that SEBI's role in the matter was "suspect" for several reasons because a lot of information was available to the regulator way back in 2014.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the SEBI, had told the bench that there was "a growing tendency of planting stories outside India to influence things and policies inside India".

Mehta had said that investigation in 22 out of the 24 cases relating to allegations against the Adani group were over.

One of the PILs had alleged that changes to the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act (SEBI Act) provided a 'shield and an excuse' for the Adani Group's regulatory contraventions and market manipulations to remain undetected.

The top court had then asked the SEBI to independently investigate the matter and constituted a committee of experts headed by former SC judge Justice AM Sapre.

The Adani Group stocks got bludgeoned on the bourses after the Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including those about fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against the business conglomerate.

The Adani Group dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.