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July 9, 2001
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JPC probe: 800 questions & over 40,000 pages of answers

BS Markets Bureau

The joint parliamentary committee probing the latest stock scam may well get into the Guinness Book of World Records for raising the maximum number of queries. Believe it or not, the JPC has raised 800 questions on the scam involving Ketan Parekh, Madhavpura Mercantile Co-op Bank and, of course, the stock markets.

For Sebi chairman DR Mehta, burning the midnight oil in office has become a routine affair ever since he came back from Stockholm last Monday, after attending the IOSCO meeting. He has been working on the weekends and even on public holidays, in a bid to complete the answers. Around 10 Sebi officials are assisting him in the process. The JPC members will be in Bombay on July 11 and 12 seeking "evidence" on the scam. The JPC's earlier meeting in Delhi last month was purely to understand the issues involved.

The two regulators the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Reserve Bank of India are sharing the "burden" equally with the BSE, NSE, CSE and the Stock Holding Corporation of India chipping in and doing their bit.

Nearly all the executives in the surveillance and investigation departments of Sebi are involved in the exercise, as also some of the relevant staff in the department dealing with foreign institutional investor trades. Considering the volume of documentation, the answers may well run into more than 40,000 pages, though an exact consolidated figure was difficult to obtain.

The scene in RBI is no different. Here, deputy governor YV Reddy is co-ordinating the exercise.

Along with Reddy, newly appointed deputy governor GP Muniappan will lead a team of senior officials to face the JPC next week. Over 20 senior RBI-ites including executive directors and chief general managers have been spending at least 16 hours a day in office over the last fortnight to complete all the answers. Governor Bimal Jalan is said to be a tough taskmaster.

The RBI's answers run into four volumes. The answers will be both in Hindi as well as English for the benefit of the honourable peoples' representatives.

The JPC, constituted in April, has 30 members with 20 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha.

The terms of reference of the JPC are to go into the transaction details which led to the market crash in March this year and investigate instances of manipulation, insider trading and misuse of financial instruments. Its brief also includes fixing responsibility in case of misdemeanours, finding lapses in control and regulatory mechanisms, making recommendations for safeguards and improving the surveillance system (in the financial system as a whole).

It can also suggest measures to protect small investors and deterrents against those found guilty of violating the regulations.

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