Viceroy report on Vedanta lacks credibility: Ex-CJI Chandrachud

Viceroy Research’s report on the Vedanta group lacks credibility, former chief justice of India D Y Chandrachud said on Friday, referring to the short-seller’s reports on the group over the past few days.

“Viceroy has a track record of taking short positions in listed companies and then publishing misleading reports to profit unlawfully from the resulting market impact,” Chandrachud said in a report. ET has seen a copy of this report.

The Vedanta group had sought his opinion after the US-based short seller has published a series of reports against the group, terming Vedanta Resources a ‘parasite’ company, apart from pointing out several other alleged irregularities.


Chandrachud also said that the “purported” researchers behind the report have dubious credentials. The firm’s disclaimer that the allegations may be made to further its short-selling interest and the timing of the publication further diminish the reliability of the report.

The former chief justice also said that Vedanta operates under a robust and multi-layered regulatory framework, and that there are no adverse findings from any regulator or credit agency till date.

He also said that Viceroy and its researchers can be proceeded under laws of defamation for wrongly targeting Vedanta. “The elements required to establish defamation – both civil and criminal – are satisfied in this case, given that Viceroy has published public, reputationally damaging statements directly targeting the Querist (Vedanta),” he said.