New Delhi: The Supreme Court refused to entertain a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a probe into allegations against Vedanta Group firms by a US-based short-seller.
“Why are companies outside India so concerned about how we conduct our affairs?” the bench of Justice P S Narasimha and Justice A S Chandurkar asked while dismissing the PIL filed by a lawyer called Shakti Bhatia through senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan.
The Court said that the PIL will be considered as ‘withdrawn’ after Sankaranarayanan said he will be withdrawing the petition.
“Why are these companies outside India so concerned about how we conduct our affairs and under what law?” the bench asked after Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said Viceroy Research LLC was a short-seller and the petitioner is just a “name-lender”.
The SG pointed to an email written to SEBI chairperson and other authorities by Viceroy just after the petition was filed in the apex court and said these institutions have absolutely “no credibility”.
“There is a systematic pattern where outside agencies create reports and influence the Indian stock market,” he said.
Sankaranarayanan submitted that the relief sought in the petition is very narrow and only seeks that SEBI and RBI investigate the allegations and take necessary action. He also said he does not endorse the allegations levelled by the Viceroy nor the methodology adopted by the petitioner but wants to allay concerns, and the SEBI can very well investigate the irregularities pointed out and take lawful action. He also said this petition does not call for such sweeping reliefs, unlike the Adani-Hindenburg litigation where the apex court had constituted an expert panel.
The bench said if it issues notice and seeks their counter affidavit, it will dismiss the petition with a huge cost.
Mehta questioned the maintainability of the petition and pointed to the modus operandi of foreign short-sellers. He said such firms seek to destabilise Indian companies and markets by releasing reports and then amplifying their effect through litigation.
“The highest court of the land cannot be taken for a joyride. Let this petition be dismissed to send a strong message,” Mehta submitted.
The bench said since the petitioner is seeking to withdraw his PIL, the court would not like to go further into it.
