The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament postponed its meeting today after Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and other officials expressed inability to attend it hours before its commencement.
Congress general secretary and PAC chairperson K C Venugopal while confirmed the news saying that the decision to call off the meeting was taken after Buch informed the panel in the morning that she will not be able to attend the meeting due to “some pressing reasons”. Buch has been at the centre of a high-pitched political controversy after the US based short-seller, Hindenburg, levelled allegation of conflict of interests against her. Today’s meeting was supposed to review the functioning of Sebi.
According to Venugopal, PAC had decided in its very first meeting to review the performance of country’s regulatory bodies. The committee sends notice to the concerned people to appear before it. Buch and other officials first asked for exemption from appearing before the committee but the request was turned down by it.
The BJP has taken umbrage against this move with party MP Ravi Shankar Prasad threatening to approach the Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla, with PAC members from the BJP and its allies, with the complaint against Venugopal’s conduct of taking unilateral decision. The fact is the BJP has been opposed to the idea of reviewing regulatory bodies alleging it is an attempt to weaken the reputation of the central government.
