New Delhi: Congress leader Dr Jaya Thakur on Tuesday filed a writ petition in the Supreme court, seeking investigation of Adani group in the wake of the Hindenburg report released against it for manipulating its shares prices.
The plea seeks probe against Adani group for swindling lakhs and crores of public money and money of the exchequer by various investigating agencies including the CBI, ED, SEBI, RBI, etc. under the supervision of the top court.
It also seeks directions to investigating agencies to probe the role of LIC and SBI to invest into the Follow on Public Offer (FPO) of Adani enterprises at the rate of Rs 3,200 per share whereas prevailing market rate of shares in secondary market was Rs 1,800 per share. The petitioner has contended that LIC and SBI failed to discharge their duties towards common people and investors by probing into the Adani group.
There are two Public Interest Litigations (PIL) pending in the top court against Adani seeking investigation into the matter. During the first hearing of the matter, the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud led bench had expressed concern over the Indian investors loosing lakhs and crores of rupees.
The bench had enquired about the existing framework of regulations to deal with such instances. CJI had said that SEBI, government, and if needed, the finance ministry should be consulted for the regulatory mechanisms necessary to be put in place. The findings are to be submitted to the court, the CJI had said.
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The court had also recommended the constitution of a committee comprising experts from the finance background, and under the supervision of a former judge to review the regulatory framework. The court had said it doesn't want to enter into the policy domain or was not casting any doubt on the SEBI, but wanted to ensure that there is a system in place to deal with such instances, ensuring that the same does not repeat in the future.
During the last hearing Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, had informed the court that the government had no issued in constituting a committee however would want to define remit of the committee so that international investors or domestic investors do not feel that there is any inadequacy in the existing regulatory framework. He had said that the government would like to submit the members names of the committee in a sealed cover.
The court had then asked SG Mehta to submit a note by February 15 regarding the remit of the committee and listed the matter for hearing on February 17.
