The ruling coalition and the opposition locking horns not just on the floor of the house but also in the parliamentary committees, with the initial discussions in at least two panels focusing on issues that have political immediacy such as the allegations of irregularities in the functioning of the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the demand for caste census.
The Public Accounts Committee had in its inaugural meeting on August 29 included the topic ‘Performance review of regulatory bodies established by Act of Parliament’ in its agenda. This, according to some members of the committee, would include the functioning of the SEBI and also involve the possibility of asking SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch who is accused of financial misconduct and conflict of interest to appear before the panel.
On expected lines, at the meeting of the PAC on September 10, while the item on agenda was the audit of the Jal Jeevan Mission of the central government, it is learnt that the topic of asking Buch to appear before the panel came up. According to sources, Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Ray raised the issue, but as per sources, there was a strong counter to it provided by BJP’s Nishikant Dubey who said the CAG could audit the SEBI only if it is authorised to do so by the central government. Dubey is also learnt to have said the PAC cannot summon officials belonging to the regulators without evidence of irregularities in the finances provided by the government.
The panel, chaired by Congress’s K.C. Venugopal, is expected to discuss the matter further, and a decision on calling Buch would be dependent on the majority view. The panel has 22 members – 15 from the Lok Sabha and seven from the Rajya Sabha, and the MPs belonging to the ruling side outweigh those from the opposition.
Meanwhile, the proceedings of the Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes is expected to see the topic of caste census being brought up. The committee headed by BJP’s Ganesh Singh held its first meeting on August 29, when opposition MPs and the saffron party's key ally JD(U) pressed for inclusion of caste census among the topics to be discussed by the panel.
It is learnt that the argument made by the MPs who asked for caste census to be discussed by the committee is that there are media reports which talk about the population census being conducted soon and if that is the case, the panel should call officials from the union home ministry to discuss whether caste census would be a part of the exercise. The topic is expected to come up for discussion again in the panel.
