5 Reasons Why Harish Salve Says Parliamentary Panel Into Hindenburg Report Will Set Wrong Precedent

Speaking exclusively to NDTV on Tuesday, Mr Salve addressed the opposition's demand for a joint parliamentary committee to investigate Hindenburg's latest allegations that Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband, Dhaval, had a stake in offshore entities used in alleged financial wrongdoing by the Adani Group. 

The former solicitor general said a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) is not an appellate body and such panels are set up in rare cases, when there are issues of national importance. Mr Salve stressed that the push for a JPC probe is undermining the authority of the Supreme Court and a regulatory body like the SEBI.

"Tomorrow you will ask for a JPC investigation into the Supreme Court's decision on reservation or electoral bonds... This is not what the Parliament is meant for," Mr Salve told NDTV, adding that in cases of alleged breach of law, the Supreme Court's order is the last word. "Can a Parliamentary committee negate the Supreme Court's observations?" he asked. 

"In any other country, people would have said the Hindenburg report belongs in a garbage bin. Hindenburg is trying to browbeat SEBI. There should be a tribunal for defamation in India. Tomorrow, such bodies won't spare even judges," Mr Salve told NDTV. 

The legal expert also said it is "shameful" that a section of political leaders are taking Hindenburg seriously. "Why do people get away with wild allegations? In India, we don't respect people's reputations, it is time we started taking reputations seriously," Mr Salve said, accusing the short-seller of "mocking India".