NEW DELHI: As the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is set to hold its third meeting on October 4, all eyes are on whether the panel will summon the Securities and Exchange Board of India chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, who is facing allegations of conflict of interest.
This comes in the wake of unconfirmed reports that the PAC asked for a detailed review of SEBI’s accounts of previous fiscal years from the Finance Ministry and that it may call Buch to depose before it.
A political row has erupted after the PAC, headed by Congress leader KC Venugopal, introduced ‘The review of regulatory bodies established by Acts of Parliament’ as an agenda item at its August 29 meeting.
Hindenburg Research, a US-based short-shelling firm, had first levelled allegations of conflict of interest against Buch, a charge which sparked a political controversy as the Congress seized on the report and levelled fresh charges against her.
In the second meeting of the PAC on September 10, TMC leader Saugata Roy and BJP leader Nishikant Dubey sparred over the issue after Roy demanded that Buch should be deposed before the panel.