The latest verdicts of the supreme court vindicates its return to the position of the watchdog of the democracy, which it purportedly had sought to abandon at the face of the executive asserting its overwhelming domination in the polity.
Vivekanand Jha Ranchi: Indeed a long awaited liberating news for the nation: A bench of three judges of the apex court, comprising of the Chief Justice, D.Y. Chandrachud, justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwa had passed a verdict on Adani-Hindenburg report, ordering an enquiry into the much awaited investigation into the alleged massive fraud committed in inflating the stock prices of Adani Conglomerate. Also, in another landmark judgment, the bech headed by Justice Joseph, has laid down the rule of appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners by the prime minister, leader of opposition and the chief justice of the supreme court. And, where there is no opposition leader, it should be the leader of the largest opposition party. Both these verdicts augur well for the ever sinking space of democracy in India. Significantly, the Commitee to be headed by the former judge of Supreme Court, Abhay M Sapre, has such members as, OP Bhat, justice JP Devdhar, KV Kamat, Nandan Nilekani and Somasekhar Sundaresan to investigate into the massive fraud involving Adani Conglomerate, in the wake of Hindenburg report. Thus the court had delivered this verdict on 2nd of March, which it had reserved on 17th of February, 2023. Incidentally, the lawyer duo-Manohar Lal Sharma and Vishal Tiwari had filed the number of petitions on this issue in the Supreme Court, along with Jaya Thakur, the Congress leader, seeking the court’s intervention on this grave issue bedeviling the republic, ever since this humongous scam had rocked the polity. Whereas the Parliament remained dysfunctional, on account of opposition’s collective demand for constituting Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the gigantic scam which had hit the global reputation of India’s financial credibility which remained an object of deeply disconcerting role of financial regulator like SEBI which remained in the state of stagnation and indecisiveness despite the passage of several days of Hindenburg report accusing Adani of massive stock manipulation to inflate the price of its group shares. No wonder, the apex court’s order to SEBI, to send its investigative report in the close envelope to the court within two months, is tantamount to a big slap offered to the regulator of Stock Exchange whose robust reputation too, in the wake of Hindenburg report, had taken a serious beating.
Regrettably, with the opposition, despite being fragile and incoherent, rising to the occasion, exhibited a rare show of unity, in the wake of the breaking of this scam, demanding the Joint Parliamentary Probe Commitee(JPC), was disdainfully dismissed by the prime minister as if nothing consequential had happened, caused a deep sense of revulsion in the minds of the intelligentsia of this country. Worse still, the brazen attitude of the government, showcased by the prime minister in his response to the president’s speech where, far from giving an insight into the grave issue of a mammoth corporate fraud, he chose to sing panegyrics of the achievements of his own government. Thus the opposition had lost all its hope of a fair and impartial investigation into the crony capitalism which has come to agitate the nation’s conscience in no ambiguous terms. Apparently, even the citizens concerned with the growing corporate- political nexus, finally were left to despair with the realisation dawning that, Adani and Modi are one and the same and, therefore, the omissions and commissions of Adani Conglomerate will never come under the government scanner. Hence, the only door lay open to bring this massive fraud under scanner was to knock the door of the judiciary. But then, judiciary’s silent acquiescence in the omissions and commissions of executives, for last few years, if not more, hardly excited any sense of optimism and expectation.
Nonetheless, today’s verdict of the apex court, coming as it does, against the backdrop of the despondency set in the republic, that crony capitalism which has been ruling the roost, can browbeat the law into an abysmal submission. Adani’s shenanigans, which began with Gautam Adani dubbing the Hindenburg report as an attack upon the sovereignty of India, almost left the fellow citizens perplexed, for it was not only politicians but the corporate tycoons too, was seeking a shield of nationalism to escape the dragnet of law. Unequivocally, the current dispensation in Delhi, which has mastered the art of invoking nationalism at the mere drop of hat, its various prominent stakeholders too, like that of Gautam Adani, whose meteoric rise under Modi dispensation is an open secret, has strategically taken refuge in nationalism as a protective shield to escape the national investigation. Significantly, the legal dictum as expounded by Lord Denning, ‘ Be you however so high, law is still above you’, appears to be in tatters, as the open mockery of law was made by Adani Conglomerate with full impunity.
Indeed as William Shakespeare says, ‘ All is well that ends well’, the verdict of the apex court in constituting a committee under the retired supreme court judge, finally brings the curtain down on the brazenness of Adani group evading law with the wholesome cooperation of the executive. Significantly, this verdict is also a slap in the face of government which has been standing in solidarity with Adani Conglomerate making the severest mockery of the rule of law, especially when such financial regulators like SEBI acting indecisively when the credibility of Indian corporate governance was being questioned by the global community. Now, with the apex court ordering an independent investigation into one of the biggest corporate frauds of this century, the people’s faith in judiciary is sought to be restored. The people, in fact, has come to believe that, executive collusion with the corporate cannot skip the judicial scrutiny. Also, the interregnum period of judiciary when it had come to be looked upon by the people as the executive judiciary nexus, with some sort of quid pro quo having been institutionalised–you remain fixated to us, we will reward you with post-retirement succour–former chief justices like P Sathasivam, justice Gogoi, rehabilitated: the former as the governor of Kerala, and the latter as the member of Rajya Sabha. Also, Justice Mishra was appointed as the head of the Human Rights Commission, for singing panegyrics for Modi in open public function. In short, the Supreme Court has left behind its past baggages of playing its role as executive judiciary, and donned the role of a watchman to the democracy, to safeguard the people’s interest. Thus today’s judgment vindicates the role of supreme court as the watchdog of the sinking space for Indian democracy.
Vivekanand Jha
Author, Academician and a Public Intellectual.
