Only Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into Adani row can bring out truth: Congress

The Congress on Thursday said no panel other than a joint parliamentary committee can bring out the truth in the Adani row and the industrialist's relationship with the prime minister and asserted that it will raise the demand in Parliament when it meets again on March 13.

Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh said he had stated on February 16 that any panel by the Supreme Court would only look into violations of SEBI rules and regulations and will not be able to bring out the truth in the Adani issue.

"If the prime minister and the government are to be held accountable, any committee other than the JPC will be nothing but an exercise in legitimisation and exoneration," he told reporters here, asserting that he had stated this earlier too.

"In the Adani case, the Supreme Court committee is limited only to the investigation of violations of SEBI law and regulation. The truth of what has been the relationship between Prime Minister Modi and (Gautam) Adani will never come to the fore if JPC is not formed," he said.

The Congress party wants that a JPC be instituted and will raise the demand in the Parliament session beginning March 13, he noted.

The Congress leader also asserted that it has been posing a set of three questions to the prime minister everyday but has not received any answers, and they will remain unanswered by the SC-appointed panel formed to look into the issue.

Ramesh said on February 16 he had stated that any committee formed by the Supreme Curt into the Adani-Hindenburg issue would be nothing but an exercise in legitimisation and exoneration.

Asked whether the Congress was not in favour of the Supreme Court setting up a panel, he said "we are not confident that the truth in Adani issue will come out" through it.

The Congress and some other opposition parties have been demanding the constitution of a joint parliamentary committee to look into the Adani issue in the wake of charges of stock manipulation and financial irregularities raised by US firm Hindenburg that led to meltdown of stocks of Adani Group companies on Indian bourses.

The party had also stalled proceedings in both houses of Parliament over the issue and it is likely to step up the heat over its demand in the forthcoming budget session of Parliament.

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered setting up of a six-member committee headed by former apex court judge Justice A M Sapre to investigate the recent Adani Group shares crash triggered by Hindenburg Research's fraud allegations and other regulatory aspects related to stock markets.

The court asked the panel to submit its report in a sealed cover within two months.

The top court observed that the PILs pertained to the loss of investors' wealth over the past few weeks due to the steep decline of share prices of Adani Group companies, precipitated by the Hindenburg Research report which alleged manipulations and malpractices by the Adani Group companies? and also directed market regulator SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) to complete its ongoing probe into the issue in two months and file a status report.

Besides former apex court judge Justice Sapre, the other members of the court-appointed panel will be O P Bhat (former Chairman of SBI), Justice J P Devadhar (retired judge of the Bombay High Court), K V Kamath, Nandan Nilekani and Somasekharan Sundaresan.