SEBI chief Buch 'unable' to attend, PAC meet pushed; chairperson Venugopal under fire

After the PAC meeting was postponed, its member and BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad accused Venugopal of taking suo motu decisions. He also said that several PAC members, including those from the BJP and its alliance partners, are approaching LS Speaker Om Birla against Venugopal's conduct.

New Delhi: SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch on Thursday did not appear before Parliament's Public Accounts Committee citing personal reasons, prompting panel chairman K C Venugopal to postpone the sitting, a decision that attracted the ire of the ruling NDA MPs.

Buch, who is mired in a controversy over allegations of conflict of interest levelled by US short-seller Hindenburg, and other SEBI officials were summoned as part of the “performance review of regulatory bodies established by Act of Parliament”.

After informing the panel about the absence of Buch and other officials, sources said Venugopal announced the postponement of the multi-party panel’s meeting. As he walked away, the ruling NDA members raised objections about the senior Congress MP’s decision.

Venugopal said the PAC had in the first meeting in late August decided to review the working of regulatory bodies and that was why SEBI officials were sent notices for appearing before the panel.

“First, they sought exemption, the SEBI chairperson sought an exemption from appearing before the committee, which we denied. After that, she confirmed she and her team would be present. Today at 9:30 AM, we got a communication from the SEBI chairperson that because of a personal exigency, she is unable to travel to Delhi,” he said.

“Considering her request, we thought that it is better to postpone today's meeting for another day,” Venugopal told reporters while adding that he took that decision because she is a woman and cited some personal reasons for not appearing before the panel.

NDA MPs, including Ravi Shankar Prasad, Anurag Thakur and Praful Patel, later met Speaker Om Birla to complain about Venugopal. Prasad said they have serious reservations about the procedure adopted in the PAC meeting.

“The chairperson’s conduct, the way he did not allow us to speak is unparliamentary and politically motivated. We were in the majority in the PAC. It was strange, he rose suddenly and walked away...PAC's work is to discuss the CAG reports but how did he decide to take the suo moto subject? We have information from trustworthy sources that CAG has not made any remark about SEBI in its reports,” he said.

Earlier, the Venugopal's decision to summon Buch raised protests from the BJP with senior MP Nishikant Dubey writing to Birla, accusing the senior Congress leader of raking up "non-existent" issues to defame the union government and "destabilise" the country's financial structure and economy.