With SEBI’s Chief Madhabi Buch facing scrutiny by the opposition, a Parliamentary Committee has included ‘Performance review of regulatory bodies established by Act of Parliament’ as one of 164 subjects for examination during 2024-25.

Though the Public Accounts Committee, headed by Congress MP K C Venugopal, has not specifically mentioned SEBI, the broad topic includes every regulatory body, including SEBI. The stock market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), was initially constituted as a non-statutory body on April 12, 1988, through a resolution of the Government of India. Later, it was established as a statutory body in 1992, and the provisions of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 came into force on January 30, 1992.

The Committee, with 22 members of Lok Sabha, is expected to call Buch. It is not clear when she will be asked to appear. Buch is facing allegations of conflict of interest over the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) investigation into the Hindenburg Research claims against the Adani Group. The Congress has questioned payments made to Buch by ICICI Bank, her former employer after she became a whole-time member of SEBI and sought an independent probe into the matter.

Meanwhile, the Committee is scheduled to meet on September 10, and as of now, it has just one agenda item—a review of the Jal Jeevan Mission. It may be noted that at the beginning of its term, every year, the Committee selects Audit Paragraphs included in the various reports of C&AG for in-depth examination. In addition to the above, the Committee may select one or more suo moto subjects for in-depth examination during the year apart from those included in C&AG Reports/Paras.

After holding deliberations and taking note of the time available at the disposal of the Committee, the Committee selects the most important subjects/paragraphs on which the oral examination is to be conducted. ‘Performance review of regulatory bodies established by Act of Parliament’ is one of suo moto subjects.

Once the Committee gives its report on the subject, the Government is required to intimate to the Committee the Action taken or proposed to be taken by it on the recommendations contained in the report, normally within six months of the presentation. The Government’s Action-Taken replies are considered by the Committee, and after due classification of the replies, an Action-Taken Report is presented to the Parliament.

The Government is further required to intimate to the Committee the Action taken or proposed to be taken by it on the recommendations contained in the Action Taken Report and also to furnish final replies in respect of the earlier recommendations contained in the Original Report in respect of which either no replies had previously been received, or only interim replies had been received.

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