JPC directs SEBI to monitor volatile scrips

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 14. The Joint Parliamentary Committee probing the stock market crash today directed the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to bring under the scanner some 100 to 150 companies whose prices either rose or fell vastly. Purusing the information supplied by the SEBI, the JPC Chairman, Mr. Sri Prakash Mani Tripathi, found that in the case of some companies the share prices rose phenomenally while the fall in prices was of much lower magnitude, clearly reflecting the bull and the bear run on the bourses. Briefing correspondents after a four-day sitting of the JPC, Mr. Tripathi said the directive did not mean that these companies had committed irregularities but it was to determine through a scientific study whether the upward/downward movements of share prices were natural. The exercise would help the focus of probe. For instance, he said, even the SEBI was unaware that in the case of companies like ``Southpole SE'' the share price between October 1999 and March 2000 had climbed inordinately. Other instances were ``Washington D, Visiontek, S Company TD whose prices shot up extraordinarily. He said though the list was drawn up by SEBI there was no study on the trend. The JPC also decided to summon the former UTI Chairman, Mr. P. S. Subramanyam, and the current management after the committee peruses the reports being prepared by two other committees. During its current sitting, the JPC examined officials from the Ministry of Finance, Reserve Bank of India and SEBI. The UTI today held another round of technical briefing for the JPC. At its next sitting between September 24 and 27, the JPC would examine officials from Madhavpura Cooperative bank, Bank of Punjab, Classic, Centurion, Global Trust, ICICI, Indusland and the Central Board of Direct Taxes.