Sebi chief Madhabi Puri to appear before parliamentary panel on Oct 24

In an attempt to review the functioning of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of  Parliament has asked the chiefs of both to appear before the panel.

Following the directives of the critical parliamentary panel, Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and TRAI chairperson Anil Kumar Lahoti are likely to be present on October 24. A PTI report quoted its anonymous source as saying that the PAC has asked some top Finance Ministry officials too to appear before the panel.

The unstated convention in parliamentary practice is that chiefs of institutions have to attend parliamentary panel briefings whenever summoned.

Hindenburg's allegation

The meeting of the critical parliamentary panel comes amid a major row over allegations made by US research body Hindenberg against Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Much and her husband Dhaval Buch over her alleged links with the Adani Group.

The Congress party had staged a nationwide protest in August over Hindenburg's allegations against Madhabi Buch and her husband Buch, who both denied any wrongdoing. The Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, also sought the resignation of Madhabi Puri Buch. The Adani Group and the Sebi chief have denied these Congress allegations.

`Damning' report on Adani

In one of its reports, Hindenberg alleged that the Buchs owned stakes in offshore entities linked to Adani Group's alleged financial irregularities. Hindenburg also said that 18 months after its "damning" report on Adani "Sebi has exhibited a lack of interest in charges against Adani".

The Adani group and the SEBI chief have denied these Congress allegations.