Parliamentary panel meeting ended when SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch absent with last-minute notice: Sources

A meeting of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to review the markets regulator’s performance was postponed shortly after it began when Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chief Madhabi Puri Buch reported that she could not appear before the panel for personal reasons, sources. said on October 24th.

The postponement came after SEBI chief Buch wrote a letter at 9:30 am to PAC chairman KC Venugopal expressing his inability to attend due to personal demands, sources said.

The SEBI Chief is likely to be given a new date to appear before the Committee, they added.

After the PAC chairman and the opposition MPs left the meeting room, the NDA MPs continued to have their discussions in the committee room, according to sources.

The heads of SEBI and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) were expected to appear before the committee earlier.

The Secretary of the DEA and the Ministry of Finance were also summoned by the commission, according to the sources cited.

According to the convention, the president of the organization must appear before the committee for oral evidence, they said.

Sources had earlier clarified that the allegations against the SEBI chief in the Hindenburg report were not on the PAC’s agenda.

However, committee members could ask questions about Hindenburg’s allegations and the panel could also object to any issues raised during discussions, the sources explained.

The developments come amid a major row over allegations made by US think tank Hindenburg against Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch over their alleged links with the Adani Group.

Congress had in early August held a nationwide protest against Hindenburg’s accusations against Madhabi Buch and her husband, who denied any wrongdoing. The opposition party also called for his resignation.

Hindenburg, in one of its reports, alleged that the Buchs held stakes in offshore entities linked to the Adani Group’s alleged financial irregularities. Hindenburg also said that 18 months after its “damning” report on Adani “SEBI has shown a lack of interest in the allegations against Adani”.

The Adani Group and the Buch duo denied the allegations.