SC dismisses plea seeking review of Adani-Hindenburg verdict

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra dismissed the review plea filed by one of the PIL petitioners, Anamika Jaiswal, against the January 3 verdict.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea seeking review of its January 3 verdict by which it refused to transfer the probe into allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani Group to a special investigation team or the CBI.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra dismissed the review plea filed by one of the PIL petitioners, Anamika Jaiswal, against the January 3 verdict.

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“Having perused the review petition, there is no error apparent on the face of the record. No case for review under Order XLVII Rule 1 of the Supreme Court Rules 2013. The review petition is, therefore, dismissed,” the bench said in its order of May 5.

The review petition was considered by the judges in chamber.

In a significant win for the Adani Group, the top court, on January 3, declined to order a CBI or SIT probe. In its judgment, the apex court had said market regulator SEBI was conducting a “comprehensive investigation” into the allegations and its conduct “inspires confidence”.

The review petition had claimed there were “mistakes and errors” in the judgment, and in light of certain new material that had been received by the counsel for the petitioner, there were sufficient reasons for a review of the verdict.

The plea had said the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had in its report only updated the court about the status of the 24 investigations it undertook following the allegations, whether they were complete or incomplete, but did not disclose any findings or details of action taken.

In its verdict, the apex court noted that SEBI has completed its investigation in 22 out of the 24 matters where allegations had been levelled against the Adani Group.

“There are apparent errors on the face of the impugned order dated January 3, 2024, wherein this court rejected the petitioner’s prayer to constitute a court-monitored SIT into the massive fraud involving market manipulation through offshore entities owned by promoters of Adani Group. Hence, the impugned judgment is liable to be reviewed,” the plea had said.

Earlier, the apex court’s verdict had come on a batch of petitions on the Adani-Hindenburg Research row over allegations of stock price manipulation by the Indian business conglomerate.

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

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