New Delhi: During the hearing of petitions related to the Hindenburg report on Friday, the Supreme Court criticized the petitioner for alleging failure on the part of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) during the proceedings.
During the hearing by a special bench comprising Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice J.B. Pardiwala, SEBI had requested additional time to investigate the matter.
However, the petitioner called it a failure of SEBI for not being able to conduct the investigation so far.
The court rebuked the petitioner saying, “Do not directly allege SEBI…the committee is investigating whether there was any negligence on the part of SEBI or not…the evidence presented here affects the market.”
SEBI had requested an additional six months to investigate the matter, but the court was of the opinion that six months is too long.
However, the Solicitor General argued that six months is a compressed time and is not too long for such an investigation.
The court did not issue any orders in the matter and said that the next hearing would be held on Monday, May 15, 2023, and the decision would be pronounced on the same day if SEBI is given time.
Earlier during the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta clarified, “The word ‘suspicious’ was used in the application in relation to 12 transactions, but SEBI did not use that word. It is an allegation made by Hindenburg.” This was in response to allegations made by the petitioner.
