Relief for Vedanta: SC refuses to hear PIL on Viceroy’s allegations

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a court-monitored probe into allegations made by US-based short-seller Viceroy Research LLC against Vedanta Ltd, Hindustan Zinc Ltd, Vedanta Resources Ltd, and related entities.

- Utkarsh Anand

A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and AS Chandurkar said it ‘was not inclined to hear the matter, prompting petitioner Shakti Bhatia to withdraw the plea.

Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Gopal Sankara-narayanan said the petition merely sought a direction to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to act on complaints already submitted to them. “The relief is narrow...we are not asking the court to presume wrongdoing or monitor an inquiry like in the Adani-Hindenburg case. We only want regulators to discharge their statutory duties,” he told the bench.

Sankaranarayanan said Viceroy had submitted detailed complaints to SEBI and RBI, and that the petitioner had independently verified parts of the report through public filings. He clarified that the plea did not endorse Viceroy’s conclusions or accuse

The court agreed with the Centre's submission.

Vedanta of any wrongdoing but sought regulatory scrutiny of credible material.