Member of SC panel on Hindenburg issue appointed as judge of Bombay HC

Somasekhar Sundaresan appointed as judge of Bombay HC

Lawyer Somasekhar Sundaresan, who was a member of the Supreme Court appointed panel to to look into the crash of the Adani group stocks following the Hindenburg report and also suggest ways to strengthen the stock market regulatory framework, has been appointed as a judge of the Bombay High Court.

Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal took to X, formerly Twitter, to confirm the news of Sundaresan's appointment to the Bombay High Court.

The SC is now likely to reconstitute the panel on the Adani-Hindenburg issue, since it is unlikely for a sitting judge of the high court to be part of probe panels as per the existing protocols. A bench of SC led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud appointed the panel in March 2023, while Sundaresan's name was suggested for appointment in February 2022.

The case is likely to come up for hearing in the apex court on November 24.

In January 2023, the SC reiterated its recommendation to appoint Sunderasan as a judge of the Bombay High Court. Sundaresan was recommended by the collegium of Bombay HC in 2021 for judgeship, subsequently in February 2022 the SC Collegium recommended his name

for appointment as a Judge of the Bombay High Court.

However, in November 2022, the government  sought reconsideration of the said recommendation on the ground that Sundaresan aired his views in the social media on several matters  which were pending in the courts.  Responding to this, the collegium said "views on social media attributed to the candidate, do not furnish any foundation to infer that he is biased."

Collegium also noted that Sundaresan has specialized in commercial law

and would be an asset to the Bombay High Court which has a large

volume of cases of commercial and securities laws, among other

branches.