The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament can summon SEBI Chief Madhabi Puri Buch for questioning. This can be done to review the functioning of SEBI. There is also a possibility of controversy regarding this because some MPs of the committee are against such a unilateral decision. The committee headed by Congress leader KC Venugopal has decided 161 topics for the next 5 years, which are to be discussed. Among these, review of the functioning of regulatory bodies formed by the Act of Parliament has been included at number 160. Under this, summons can be issued to SEBI Chief Madhabi Puri Buch.
In this regard, BJP leader and PAC member Nishikant Dubey told Hindustan Times, ‘The PAC chairman has full authority to call a meeting of the committee. But the PAC is in practice even before independence and it has different rules. One of these rules is that all members have veto power.’ He said that any regulatory institution can be reviewed only when a report has come from the Controller and Auditor General i.e. CAG. Only on the basis of that report, their officials can be called for review.
There are constant reports that the SEBI chief may be called for review by the PAC. This is when Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband are under fire for a report by Hindenburg. The report claims that Madhabi and her husband also have stakes in many companies that are linked to Adani’s offshore entities. The couple had rejected these allegations and said that all our transactions are absolutely clean and there is no flaw in them. In this case, the Congress is constantly repeating that there should be an investigation under the JPC.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said recently that SEBI’s credibility has been compromised. He said that if SEBI, which has the responsibility to protect the capital of small investors, has allegations against its chairperson, then this is a serious matter. This is a matter of breaking trust. He said that this is the reason why PM Narendra Modi does not want a JPC investigation because something might be revealed. Meanwhile, Madhabi Puri Buch says that Hindenburg’s allegations are wrong because when the investment is being talked about, she and her husband were ordinary citizens. They had nothing to do with SEBI at that time.