Hindenburg report on Adani: Meet the members of the expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court

In the wake of steep decline in share prices of the Adani Group following the Hindenburg Research report, the Supreme Court on Thursday appointed an expert committee comprising six members, including a former Supreme Court judge, to probe the fiasco..The Hindenburg report published on January 24 this year alleged that the Adani Group of companies manipulated its share prices, failed to disclose transactions with related parties and other relevant information concerning related parties, in contravention of the regulations framed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).In response to petitions highlighting investor concerns in the wake of the report, a Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala directed the formation of a panel after a preliminary examination of the issues raised in the pleas.So who are the members of this expert committee? Let's take a closer look..Justice (retired) Abhay Manohar Sapre .A former Supreme Court judge, Justice Sapre will head the committee.He was appointed as an additional judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on October 25, 1999, and as a permanent judge on October 24, 2001.He was transferred to the Rajasthan High Court in 2010 and then to the Chhattisgarh High Court in 2012, before being elevated as Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court in 2013. He subsequently served as Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court in 2013..On August 13, 2014, Justice Sapre was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court. He retired in 2019.In 2017, he was part of the Constitution Bench that unanimously held that the Right to Privacy was a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.Post-retirement, in April 2022, he was appointed to assist Unitech's Board in selling off its assets after the Supreme Court intervened to protect the interests of over 12,000 homebuyers..OP Bhat .Bhat is a former Chairperson of State Bank of India and the Indian Banks’ Association. He is on the board of independent directors of various multinationals such as TCS, Tata and Hindustan Unilever.As SBI Chairperson, he also headed seven associate banks, five international banking subsidiaries and nine financial services companies in India. Under his leadership, SBI rose in market share, market cap and on the global list rankings of Fortune 500.He graduated in Science and holds a post-graduate degree in English literature. .Justice (retired) JP Devadhar.Justice Devadhar received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in law from the University of Bombay and started his practice in the Bombay High Court in 1977. He started off in the chambers of former Bombay High Court judge, Justice (retired) DR Dhanuka. He practiced Constitutional Law and argued matters pertaining to the Cooperative Societies Act, Service Law, Rent Act, Customs Act, Excise Act and Direct Tax Laws such as Income Tax, Wealth Tax and Gift Tax. Before becoming a judge, he served as counsel for the Central government and the Income Tax Department.He was appointed as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court on October 12, 2001 and retired on April 8, 2013.Post retirement, he was appointed as the presiding member of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on July 12, 2013 for a five-year term, and retired on July 11, 2018. .KV Kamath.Kamath has served as Chairperson of Infosys and a non-executive Chairperson of ICICI Bank. He was Chief of the New Development Bank of BRICS countries and served as Chairperson of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) from 2008 to 2009. After completing his engineering, Kamath graduated from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in 1971 and started his career with ICICI in project finance. He has received several recognitions nationally and internationally.The veteran banker received the Padma Bhushan in 2008..Nandan Nilekani .Nilekani is the co-founder and Chairman of Infosys Technologies Limited. He was the Founding Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in the rank of a Cabinet Minister from 2009-2014, and was instrumental in setting up the Aadhaar infrastructure in India.In January 2023, he was appointed as the co-chair of the G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure for Economic Transformation, Financial Inclusion and Development..Nilekani was born in Bengaluru and received his Bachelor’s degree from IIT, Bombay. In 2006, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan. He was also named Businessman of the Year by Forbes Asia. Time magazine listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006 and 2009. .Somasekhar Sundaresan.Sundaresan is a noted corporate lawyer. Most recently, the Supreme Court reiterated its proposal to elevate him as a judge of the Bombay High Court. He graduated from Government Law College in 1996 and started as a journalist before taking up practice.In an interview a decade ago, he told Bar & Bench, “I studied law to be a good quality journalist. I believe one cannot be a good journalist without a good sense of the law, the Constitution and administration.” .While issuing a slew of directions, the Bench today said that the honorarium payable to the members of the expert committee will be fixed by Justice Sapre and borne by the Central government. The committee is expected to carry out its “assessment of the extant regulatory framework" and come up with recommendations to strengthen the same within two months.