JPC to look into UTI as well

Our Political Bureau

New Delhi, Aug 3: The Lok Sabha (LS) Speaker Mr GMC Balayogi announced in the house on Friday that the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the stock market scam, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Prakash Mani Tripathi, would also go into all matters connected with the Unit Trust of India (UTI).

Reading out a statement, the Speaker said he had called a meeting of the leaders of different parties in his chamber to discuss matters relating to UTI in which the JPC chairman on “Stock Market Scam and Matters Relating Thereto” was also present.

“After hearing the views of all parties, particularly, the statement of the chairman that all issues relating to UTI, including the issues discussed in the House, will be considered by the JPC, the committee will now proceed accordingly,” he said.

The Speaker convened the meeting after parliamentary affairs minister Pramod Mahajan’s statement in the house during zero hour that the present JPC could also look into the UTI issue and suggested that a meeting be called of leaders of all opposition parties and the JPC chairman to see whether the committee could address the concerns.

The terms of reference of the JPC, Mr Mahajan said, also included protection of small investors and it was equipped to deal with the UTI issue as it was looking into the entire aspects of the stock markets and how small investors should be protected.

Earlier, Mr PR Dasmunshi and Mr Madhavrao Scindia (Congress) and Mr Somnath Chatterjee (CPM) had raised the issue and said the matter had to be probed as it involved the interests of over 20 million small investors.

It had been the opposition’s persistent demand during discussions in both houses on the issue that it should be probed by a JPC. But finance minister Yashwant Sinha had firmly rejected the demand on Thursday while replying to the debate in the Rajya Sabha. Later, an opposition-sponsored adjournment motion on the subject was defeated in the Lok Sabha without the finance minister’s reply.

Mr Tripathi later said the committee would seek an extension as the decision to entrust it with investigation into the UTI muddle would add to its already pending work.

“We will seek an extension as lot of areas need to be covered.
Moreover, the decision to entrust us with probe into the UTI affairs will enlarge our area of work,” he said.

Reacting to the development, main opposition Congress spokesperson S Jaipal Reddy said the party was “highly gratified” to note that the JPC on stock market scam would also look into the UTI muddle but kept up the demand for the finance minister’s resignation.
“We continue to hold the view strongly that the finance minister has no moral right to continue in the office at all. His continuance in the office is a blot on the fair name of India’s democracy and his resignation would be in keeping with the high tradition of a democracy,” he said.

“The only reason why the finance minister is able to continue,” Mr Reddy alleged was that “the Prime Minister (PM) can not afford to ask him to go since the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is as much involved in the controversy as the finance minister.”

Mr Reddy said any role of the PMO or any member of the PM’s foster family should be looked into by the JPC. “The PMO has never been above the scrutiny of the JPC” he said adding that the JPC which probed the Harshad Mehta securities scam in the nineties had gone into the role of the PMO.