'Why is Buch reluctant to...?': Rahul Gandhi's fresh attack as SEBI chief skips PAC meeting

Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, fired a fresh salvo on Sebi chief Madhabi Puri Buch, asking why she was reluctant to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament. He also suggested that someone was behind the plan to protect her from being answerable to the PAC. 
  
"Why is Madhabi Buch reluctant to answer questions before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament? Who is behind the plan to protect her from being answerable to the PAC?" he asked in a tweet.

Buch was supposed to appear before the PAC today but she did not do so due to some "exigencies". Panel head K C Venugopal postponed the sitting. The NDA members accused him of taking unilateral decisions and lodging a protest with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. 

Venugopal said 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," the Congress leader said as he along with other Opposition members left the venue minutes after the meeting began. 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.

The PAC had summoned the SEBI chief to review the regulator's functioning amid conflict of interest allegations linked to Hindenburg Research's claims, which Buch denied. She also faced accusations of holding an office of profit at ICICI, a charge firmly rejected by the bank. The Congress had sought her removal from SEBI. 

BJP members accused Venugopal of not letting them put across their views. They 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 said there are many standing committees that review the performance of various bodies e.g. the panel on finance scrutinises the work of the 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. 

Meanwhile, government sources told India Today that allegations against Buch are false and that she would complete her tenure that ends in February 2025.

(With inputs from PTI)