Adani-Hindenburg Saga: Sharad Pawar says Supreme Court committee will be more effective than JPC

Sharing his views on the Adani-Hindenburg crisis, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Saturday, April 8, said he was not completely against the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the charges against the Adani group; however, a Supreme Court committee will be more useful and effective.

"I am not completely opposed to the JPC. There have been JPCs and I have been a chairman of some of the JPCs. The JPC will be constituted on the basis of a majority (in Parliament). Instead of a JPC, I am of the opinion the Supreme Court committee is more useful and effective," Pawar said.

Talking to reporters, the NCP chief said if a JPC has 21 members, 15 will be from the ruling party and six from the opposition due to numerical strength in Parliament, which will create doubts on the panel.

Pawar added that the apex court decided to appoint a panel of retired Supreme Court judges with a direction of submitting the report in a specific time period.

The NCP chief also said he was not aware of the antecedents of United States-based Hindenburg Research, which has alleged stock manipulation and accounting fraud in firms belonging to billionaire Gautam Adani. 

The report led to a massive sell-off in Adani Group companies' shares. A recent report by M3M Hurun Global Rich List 2023, showed that Gautam Adani lost $28 billion over the last year - or an average of Rs 3,000 crore per week in 2022 - and his fortune dropped by over 60 per cent from its peak (when he was the world's second richest man) due to Hindenburg's January report.

The allegations by the Hindenburg Group resulted in strident protests by the opposition Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi, and others against the Narendra Modi government seeking a JPC probe. The Adani group has refuted the allegations.

"One foreign company takes a position about the situation in the country. We should decide how much focus should be on this. Instead of this (JPC), a Supreme Court panel is more effective," Pawar added.

In an interview with NDTV, Pawar came out in support of the Adani Group and criticised the narrative around Hindenburg Research's report on the conglomerate.

"Such statements were given by other individuals earlier too and there was a ruckus in Parliament for a few days but this time out-of-proportion importance was given to the issue," he said.

"The issues that were kept, who kept them, we had never heard of these people who gave the statement, what is the background. When they raise issues that cause a ruckus across the country, the cost is borne by the country's economy, we cannot disregard these things. It seems this was targeted," Pawar had said.

(With inputs from PTI)