SEBI Chief Buch skips PAC meeting, BJP moves speaker over chair Venugopal's conduct

New Delhi: SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch skipped a Parliament's Public Accounts Committee meeting on Thursday, prompting panel head K C Venugopal to postpone the sitting, with NDA members accusing him of taking unilateral decisions and lodging a protest with the Lok Sabha speaker.

Venugopal told reporters that the committee received a communication from Buch at 9.30 am that she and her team will not be able to appear before the panel due to "exigencies".

He indicated his disapproval of her decision noting that Buch had confirmed her presence after her earlier request for an exemption was denied.

"Considering a woman's request, we thought it better to postpone today's meeting for another day," Venugopal said as he along with other Opposition members left the venue minutes after the meeting began amid sharp exchanges between the ruling alliance and INDIA bloc MPs.

An opposition member alleged that Buch informing the committee about her decision with less than two hours to go for the meeting to begin virtually amounts to contempt of the parliamentary panel.

BJP members accused Venugopal, a senior Congress leader, of not letting them put across their views. They later charged him with acting in a "suo motu" manner, suggesting that his decision to summon Buch and even some other regulatory bodies established by the acts of Parliament was his own and guided by partisan politics.

PAC member and BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters that there are many standing committees review the performance of various bodies e.g. the panel on finance scrutinises the work of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Reserve Bank of India.

The Communication and Information Technology panel scrutinises the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, he added.

"Your (Venugopal) own words are 'suo motu'. How did you decide? The PAC's job is to consider CAG reports. We have this information from reliable sources that the CAG has made no mention of SEBI. This entire conduct is unparliamentary. The conduct of chairperson in the way he adjourned, did not allow us to speak. And (he) walked out (which) shows he has extraneous political considerations," Prasad said.

The former law minister said ruling National Democratic Alliance was in a majority at the Thursday's meeting.

"Our main objection was how did he (Venugopal) make suo motu selection of subjects without consulting other members. Nobody had an inkling of the list that was prepared," said Prasad, flanked by other NDA members of the panel.

He also objected to the PAC secretariat officials leaving the venue after Venugopal adjourned the meeting when many other members remained inside.

The NDA members met Speaker Om Birla later to register their protest against Venugopal.

The committee's decision to include in its agenda the performance review of regulatory bodies established by legislations had invited no protest, but Venugopal's move to call Buch raised hackles of the BJP members as she has been at the centre of a political row ignited by US firm Hindenburg's allegations against her.

Hindenburg's accusation of conflict of interest against Buch over the SEBI's probe into the short-seller's allegations against the Adani Group was seized upon by the Congress to seek her ouster and to attack the government, giving political dimensions to the panel's missive to her to appear before it.

PAC member and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey wrote to Speaker Om Birla last month against Venugopal, accusing the senior Congress leader of raking up "non-existent" issues to defame the central government and allegedly destabilise the country's financial structure and economy.

Accusing Venugopal of "unconstitutional and disdainful" conduct, Dubey claimed the committee's chairperson actions are guided by political motivations after the Congress was "compelled" by voters to sit in the opposition benches following the Lok Sabha polls.

Claiming that unverified allegations by a foreign company like Hindenburg against Buch were part of such a campaign, he alleged that the "India Chapter" of this toolkit has become active.