Govt. criticised for decision on JPC probe into UTI muddle

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 7. The decision to enlarge the scope of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing the stock market scam to go into the Unit Trust of India (UTI) muddle today figured in the Rajya Sabha and resulted in a procedural wrangle.

Raising the issue during zero hour, Mr. Nilotpal Basu (CPI-M) criticised the Government for not keeping the House informed about the decision of the Lok Sabha Speaker to expand the JPC's scope. Mr. Basu sought to know the veracity of a report that the alleged role of the Prime Minister's Office in the UTI muddle would not be looked into by the JPC. Mr. Basu is a member of the 30-member JPC headed by Mr. Shri Prakash Mani Tripathi.

Just as the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, started reading the statement of the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr. G.M.C. Balayogi, on it, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee (Congress) objected on the grounds that the proceedings of that House could not be read in the Rajya Sabha.

Mr. Mahajan submitted that he would prefer not to interpret the statement of the Lok Sabha Speaker and rather go with it.

With the House locked in a procedural wrangle, the Chairman, Mr. Krishan Kant, said he would talk with the Lok Sabha Speaker before deciding how it could be made part of the proceedings of both Houses.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Previous : U.P., Bihar dominate LS proceedings
Next     : RS expresses shock over fire in mental asylum