Hearing On Petitions Regarding Hindenburg Report, SC Said- How To Protect Indian Investors? – Hearing on petitions regarding Hindenburg report, SC said

The Supreme Court has asked for a brief report on the factual and regulatory details in the incident related to Adani. The Supreme Court said that our every word has an effect. We are not questioning any institution.

The petitions were heard by a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala. Advocates Vishal Tiwari and Manohar Lal Sharma have filed the petition. Vishal Tiwari has demanded an inquiry into the matter by forming an SIT under the chairmanship of a retired Supreme Court judge. While Manohar Lal Sharma has filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding an inquiry against the short seller for exploiting and cheating innocent investors.

The petition sought registration of an FIR against Hindenburg Research founder Nathan Anderson and his associates in India under sections 420 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code and SEBI. Along with this, a demand has been made to give compensation to the investors.

The Chief Justice of India asked what nature of petition it was. The petitioner said that there is a civil petition, there is a demand for investigation. On behalf of SEBI, the Solicitor General said, we will file a reply to the petition.

The CJI asked the petitioner Vishal Tiwari, there is an allegation of short selling in what happened here. How to protect Indian investors? CJI asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, how do we ensure that investors are protected, do we have a strong mechanism. Are there arrangements so that this does not happen in future? According to the newspapers, there was a loss of seven lakh crores.

Tushar Mehta said that it would be difficult to say now, but all this happened from the Hindenburg report. CJI said that, we are not putting any objection on SEBI. We need to consider whether any amendments are required in the regulatory framework. We need to put in place a regulatory mechanism to ensure that this does not happen in the future. Can an expert committee be constituted? Tushar Mehta said that, we can tell by taking instructions on this.

The CJI said that the middle class invests especially on a large scale. We need to take care of this.

He said that, having the experience of hearing all the cases of SEBI, we know and understand about these matters. Due to the short sale of shares in just 3 to 4 minutes, the number of shares in the market decreases and due to that the buyer of the shares has to bear the loss. There should be some thought process on this and if necessary, legal and regulatory changes should be made. There should be such a mechanism that this does not happen in future.

The Chief Justice said that, we will look into the matter on Monday with your reply on this. This should include the opinion of experts on how to protect Indian investors.

SG said that I answer on this after taking instructions from SEBI. Although let me make it clear that SEBI has worked on this.

The CJI said that at present India is not in the era of 1990. Not all people are big investors, there are small ones too and their protection is necessary. We should also have an answer on this from the Finance Ministry. He said that, in today’s era, it is necessary to take care of the sentiments of the people.

Advocate Vishal said that this is a very serious matter. No action has been taken against the Adani group. The CJI said that we are looking into your petition in great detail.