In an order, a bench headed by chief justice DY Chandrachud says, "We hereby constitute an expert committee, consisting of OP Bhat (former chairman of State Bank of India-SBI), justice JP Devdatt, KV Kamath, Nandan Nilekani and Somasekhar Sundaresan. The committee will be headed by former judge Abhay Manohar Sapre."

"SEBI and other agencies will cooperate in every way with the work of the expert committee. The formation of the committee does not reflect the work of the SEBI and other agencies," the SC says.

The committee will...
1. Undertake an overall assessment of the situation, including the causal factors which have led to the volatility in the securities market in the recent past;

2. Measures to strengthen investor awareness;

3. Investigate whether there has been a regulatory failure in dealing with the alleged contravention of laws pertaining to the securities market in relation to the Adani group or other companies;

4. Suggest measures to strengthen the statutory and regulatory framework and secure compliance with the existing framework concerning the protection of investors.

The apex court also asked the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to probe the issue. "SEBI shall conclude the probe within two months and file a report, and the committee shall submit its report in a sealed cover before this court within two months," the bench says.

SEBI would continue to investigate whether there has been a violation of Section 19 of SEBI rules and whether there was any manipulation of stock prices.

The committee will provide an overall assessment of the situation and the causal factors that led to the volatility in the markets. The committee will suggest measures to strengthen investors' awareness and also investigate whether there has been a regulatory failure in the alleged infringement of laws about the securities markets in connection with Adani group or other companies, it added.

In a tweet, Adani group chief Gautam Adani says the committee will bring finality in a time-bound manner.
 

The Adani Group welcomes the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court. It will bring finality in a time bound manner. Truth will prevail.

— Gautam Adani (@gautam_adani) March 2, 2023

Last month, the apex court rejected the Union government's suggestion of submitting the names of experts in a sealed cover. A bench headed by the chief justice stated that the Court would select experts and maintain full transparency, and if the Court were to take names suggested by the Union government, it would amount to a government-constituted committee.

The bench, also comprising justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said the Court wants full transparency for the protection of the interests of investors and it will form a committee so that there is a sense of confidence in the Court. (Read: Adani-Hindenburg Row: SC rejects Govt's sealed cover proposal on names of committee members)

A batch of petitions has been filed by advocates Vishal Tiwari, ML Sharma, Congress leader Jaya Thakur, and one Anamika Jaiswal. One of the petitions sought a direction to set up a committee monitored by a retired apex court judge to investigate the Hindenburg Research report, which resulted in the crashing of Adani group company share prices and caused massive losses to investors.