Adani-Hindenburg row: Market regulator SEBI seeks 15 more days to submit report

Tribune News Service

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, August 14

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has sought 15 more days from the Supreme Court to submit its report on the investigation into allegations of market manipulation against Adani Group levelled in the Hindenburg report.

In a fresh application filed in the top court, SEBI said that substantial work has already been completed and preparation of the report was at an advanced stage.

“Out of the said 24 investigations/examinations, 17 are final and complete and approved by the Competent Authority in accordance with SEBI’s extant practice and procedures,” the regulator said, requesting the court to grant 15-day additional time “or such other period as the court may deem fit and necessary in the facts and circumstances of the present case” to submit its report.

On July 11, a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had granted time till August 14 to SEBI to complete its probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani group after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the probe was on and the market regulator needed additional time to complete it.

While seeking to know about the status of investigation, the Bench had deferred the hearing to mid-August after the conclusion of Constitution Bench hearings. It had asked market regulator SEBI to circulate its response to the recommendations of the court-appointed expert committee to the parties.

The Bench is expected to take up the matter by the end of this month after the conclusion of hearings on Constitution Bench matters.

The Adani Group has dismissed the charges, saying it has been complying with all laws and disclosure requirements.  

SEBI had earlier told the Supreme Court that there was no “sky-rocketing” of securities violations as mentioned by the court-appointed Expert Committee that looked into Hindenburg Research report on Adani group of companies and asserted that it has addressed concerns raised by the panel in its report.

In an application seeking “appropriate orders” filed in the top court, it had submitted its views on the recommendations made by the Expert Committee on the Adani-Hindenburg case.

In its report submitted to the top court in May, the Expert Committee had said there was no evidence of stock price manipulation in Adani Group companies. However, it had observed that the proceedings initiated by SEBI in 202I-22 have skyrocketed to 7,195 cases as compared with 562 cases in 2020-21 and 249 cases in 2019-20.

“In this respect, it is submitted that the increase of Adjudication proceedings initiated in 2021-22 i.e. 7195 was an outlier due to the large number of adjudication proceedings in Illiquid Stock Options (ISO) matters initiated that year. If ISO matters, being the anomaly, are netted out for FY 2021- 22, the total number of proceedings initiated in FY 2021-22 would only be 416,” SEBI had submitted.

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