From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: A PIL petitioner, lawyer Vishal Tiwari has moved the Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud to reject the plea of the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for a 6-month extension into the probe of allegations of stock price manipulations by the Adani Group, saying the market regulator has already got sufficient time to inspect, examine and seize the relevant documents.
The top court had on March 2 asked SEBI to probe the matter within two months and set up a panel to look into the protection of the Indian investors after the damning report of a US firm wiped out more than $140 billion of the conglomerate’s market value.
In his statement filed on Tuesday, Tiwari said SEBI’s plea may prolong the matter and cause inordinate delay that may allow various corporate entities under the umbrella of investigation to manipulate the important data and figures, thus tampering with the evidence present in different shapes and modes.
“When SEBI was already in action prior to the court order of investigation, then it should have got the records and data required in the present investigataion of several corporate entities and of Adani group,” Tiwari said, adding that the SEBI has also not stated whom it appointed to invesstigate the issue.
While setting up a 6-member committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice A M Sapre to assess the regulatory framework and recommend how to strengthen the process.
Four PILs have been filed in the top court so far on the issue so far by lawyer Manohar Lal Sharma and Vishal Tiwari, MP Congress leader Jaya Thakur and Mukesh Kumar, a social activist.
The Adani group stocks have taken a terrible hit on the bourses after Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations against it. The Adani group has, however, dismissed the charges as lies and asserted it complies with all laws and the disclosure requirements.
