The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the parliamentary watchdog on government spending, has summoned Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman Madhabi Puri Buch and other officials to appear before the hearing on October 24.
Sources said that while they will be asked to come forward to record evidence on the overall performance of the regulatory body, the PAC administration will also question the US-based Hindenburg Research Institute on the allegations leveled against Buch.
Sources said they will also ask questions about allegations of bias by Sebi in investigating allegations against Adani Group companies in the Adani Group stock market scandal.
The opposition demanded a parliamentary inquiry into allegations by the Hindenburg Research Institute that Buch and her husband, Taval Buch, “held shares in obscure foreign companies used in the Adani money laundering”.
The PAC, led by senior Congress leader KC Venugopal, has already released the agenda for the first half of the October 24 meeting.
“The briefing on the audit, followed by oral evidence from the representatives of the Ministry of Finance (Department of Economic Affairs) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), said the meeting will be held on the topic ‘Effectiveness Review of Regulatory Bodies Established by Act of Parliament’.
While opposition members of PAC demanded to summon Madhabi Buch, its BJP members raised objections. They said the PAC can review the performance of SEBI or any other regulatory body only if funds provided by Parliament are misused.
