Special JPC Meet On Calling Sinha

Members of the Opposition in the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probing last year's stock scam have forced a special session, to be convened later this month, to decide if finance minister Yashwant Sinha should depose before the committee.

The committee had a stormy session this week on the issue of asking Sinha to appear before it, sources said, especially in the context of his comment that he was kept in the dark about the affairs in the Unit Trust of India (UTI). Opposition members felt it necessary to find out whether the finance ministry had reacted in time to the UTI crisis, which led to a freeze in the sale and repurchase of US-64 units.

The Opposition members' demand is an echo of the one in 1999 when the then finance minister, Manmohan Singh, had sent in his written response to the JPC probing the 1992 stock scam. Singh had not made a personal appearance before the committee.

Sources said the JPC also debated the possibility of a compromise of drafting a questionnaire for the finance minister and eliciting his response, but the proposal did not satisfy the members of the Opposition.