New Delhi: Giving a clear indication that the Central government is unlikely to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe over the Adani issue as demanded by the opposition parties, Minister of State for External and Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan said that such demand is "totally baseless".
"The demand of the opposition parties is totally baseless. It's an American company that talked about such alleged anomalies. No government institutions in India made such a claim. So, there is no point in setting up a JPC," said Muraleedharan while talking to ETV Bharat.
The opposition doesn't have any issue in their hand, so they are raising such demands, said Muraleedharan. "If you see earlier instances on the formation of JPC, such committee was formed over the reports of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and other government institutions and not based on a foreign company," said Muraleedharan.
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Ranging from the Bofors scandal (1987), the Harshad Mehta Stock market scam (1992), the 2G spectrum case (2011), Personal Data Protection Bill (2019) and several other issues, JPC was formed comprising members of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. A JPC is authorised to collect evidence in oral or written form or demand documents in connection with the matter.
The JPC recommendations have persuasive value, but the committee cannot force the government to take any action based on its report. The government may decide to launch fresh investigations based on a JPC report. However, the discretion to do so depends on the government. The number of members in JPC can go up from 30 to 31. Opposition parties have been demanding a probe into the Adani Group by JPC and accused the Centre of being silent on a report by a US firm that alleged stock manipulation and accounting fraud by the group.
"If the government is confident that they did nothing wrong, then what is the harm in setting up a JPC? The majority of the members in a JPC will be from the ruling party and even the chairman of the JPC will be from the ruling party," said Congress MP Abdul Khaleque to this correspondent.
Khaleque said that there is no such rule that the formation of a JPC should be only based on a report or claim by a government agency. "Although an American firm reported the Adani issue, and when the entire opposition is demanding a JPC, the government must form a JPC to prove that they don't have any link with the Adani controversy," said Khaleque.
