The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament is set to summon Madhabi Buch, the chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, for the performance review of the regulatory body. The agenda of the PAC 2024-25 will involve scrutinizing different regulatory bodies formed by Acts of Parliament. It said charges against Buch would be of particular interest. “This review may also see her appearing before the committee as early as late September.”.
The 22-member PAC, comprising 15 members from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha, is headed by Congress MP KC Venugopal. The panel includes some big names like BJP leaders Ravi Shankar Prasad, Anurag Thakur and Tejasvi Surya, and Congress MPs like Shaktisinh Gohil. The committee plans to summon officials from the Finance and Corporate Affairs Ministries too.
The 2017 appointee Buch has been accused of conflict of interest. Parliament expressed its concern over alleged dual positions of Buch in SEBI and ICICI Bank, respectively, on September 2 and called for an independent investigation. However, ICICI Bank said no salary or stock options were issued to her post-retirement in 2013.
Besides adding to this scrutiny, Buch was implicated in the Hindenburg report with the accusation of holding stakes in offshore funds linked to the Adani Group. She countered these claims with denials, espousing financial transparency. So did the Adani Group, which actually rejected the report’s contention as manipulative and baseless.
By implication, the probe of the PAC will try to clarify these and ensure accountability through regulation.
