Stock scam: JPC to determine probe period

NEW DELHI, MAY 15. The Joint Parliamentary Committee, set up to go into the recent stock market crash, will decide the period of probe in due course. The Committee was briefed today on the working of the banking sector and capital markets in the country. Briefing correspondents, the JPC Chairman, Mr. Prakash Mani Tripathi, said the period of probe did not form part of the terms of reference and during the course of its deliberations, the Committee would determine it. Mr. Tripathi also said that the Samajwadi Party MP, Mr. Amar Singh, had informed about his interests in five companies, including the ABCL, and had offered to opt out of the meetings in which these companies came up for examination. It was not possible to say now whether the companies mentioned by Mr. Singh would be taken up for discussion. Mr. Tripathi emphasised that as per the procedure, the Committee members had to inform about their personal, pecuniary and direct interest to the Speaker through the Chairman. After the initial round of meetings, information would be collated by the first week of June after which dates for the next round would be decided. Today, 25 members of the 30-member panel were briefed by senior Finance Ministry officials. Those present included the Finance Secretary, Mr. Ajit Kumar, the Special Secretary (Banking), Mr. Devi Dayal, Adviser to the Ministry, Mr. Rakesh Mohan, Joint Secretaries, Dr. J. Bhagwati and Mr. Shekhar Aggarwal, the RBI Deputy Governors, Mr. Jagdish Kapoor and Mr. S. P. Talwar, and the SEBI Chairman, Mr. D. R. Mehta.