JPC on stock scam to probe UTI fiasco

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 3. The tussle between the Government and the Opposition on the Unit Trust of India fiasco was resolved today when the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Mr. G. M. C. Balayogi, announced that ``all issues relating to the UTI, including issues discussed in the House, will be considered by the Joint Parliamentary Committee'' already looking into the stock market scandal.

The Opposition, which had demanded a separate JPC into the issue, seemed to be satisfied after Mr. Prakash Mani Tripathi, chairman of the ongoing JPC, assured party leaders in the Speaker's chamber that the committee would look into all UTI- related issues as well. That served their purpose.

This formula was the ``compromise'' arrived at between leaders of various parties at a meeting called by Mr. Balayogi where Mr. Tripathi was also present. After Mr. Tripathi said his committee could take up all issues related to UTI, and the Government agreed to go along with the Opposition's insistence that an announcement to this effect be made by the Speaker in the House, the matter was resolved.

During the meeting the Government refused a suggestion by the Congress that the terms of reference of the JPC probing the stock market scam be changed to include the UTI issue, saying the existing terms included the role of all financial institutions. The Opposition apparently wanted a specific reference to the UTI mutual fund. Instead, the Opposition's view-point was accommodated through the announcement by the Speaker through which the terms of reference stood practically enlarged. Both the ruling parties and the Opposition were thus in a position to claim that they won the day, and both did exactly this.

After launching a blistering attack on the NDA Government in the Lok Sabha on the UTI muddle yesterday, the Opposition camp appeared to have run out of ammunition.

The Congress chief whip, Mr. Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, raked up the issue during zero hour saying the Government must devise ways to protect the interests of millions of small investors in the UTI and the CPI(M)'s Mr. Somnath Chatterjee said there was no dispute on the seriousness of the issue which must be addressed.

The Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Madhavrao Scindia, said the interests of millions of investors were at stake and urged the Speaker to find ways to resolve the issue. The BJP member, Mr. Vijay Goel, criticised the Opposition for its conduct. ``Why was the Finance Minister not allowed to speak last night?''

Sharing the concerns of the members, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, suggested that terms of reference of the JPC on Stock Market scam could, with the consensus of the House, include the issues relating to the UTI.

With the additional workload, the 30-member JPC headed by Mr. Tripathi, constituted during the budget session to go into the scam and submit its report to Parliament by the end of the ongoing session, is expected to ask for more time.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Tripathi said it was decided that the JPC would now meet during the inter- session period and not during the ongoing session as planned. The JPC would utilise the period to complete its paperwork and go full steam ahead after the monsoon session.

However, earlier Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were pointing out that the JPC had already issued notices to the UTI for taking evidence on August 28. That was before the adjournment motion on the UTI in Parliament. That was being cited as ``proof'' that the ongoing JPC was already looking at UTI-related issues and therefore a separate JPC was not needed.

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