NEW DELHI, 4 August — Though the Congress party-sponsored motion against the government over UTI scam in Lok Sabha (lower house) failed on Thursday, the issue dominated the parliament yesterday.
Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi yesterday said a top level parliamentary panel probing a stock market fall will also investigate the crisis at the mutual fund giant Unit Trust of India which shook the financial markets. The opposition accepted the government’s offer. Balayogi told the house that the head of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) had agreed to widen its probe to include the deep losses suffered by UTI in a flagship fund and recommend measures to protect the interests of small investors.
The country’s largest fund manager stunned some 20 million investors last month by freezing redemptions in its flagship US-64 scheme for the rest of 2001, following a sharp fall in Indian share prices.
The main opposition Congress party, which had been demanding a separate parliamentary probe into the crisis at UTI, said it was satisfied with parliament’s decision made at an all-party meeting.
“We have been assured by the speaker that matters raised in the house over the UTI crisis would be probed by the JPC, to that extent we are happy,” Congress deputy Priyaranjan Dasmunshi said.
The highest investigating body under the parliamentary system began its work in mid-May to examine the reasons for the stock market fall around the time the government presented its reform-oriented budget.
However, a judge yesterday rejected the bail application of the former chairman of the UTI, and two other officials, all accused of financial wrongdoing.
All the accused have been remanded to judicial custody till Aug. 7.
