'Committee orchestrated bid': Congress demands JPC on Adani

If the PM and his govt are to be held accountable, any committee other than a JPC will be nothing but an exercise in legitimisation and exoneration, Ramesh said

Insisting on a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani affair, Congress on Thursday found fault with the proposal to set up a committee of experts to examine regulatory regime following the expose, saying it will only be an exercise in “legitimisation and exoneration” and will not unravel the link between the controversial industrialist and the ruling regime.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said the allegations are of "close, intertwined proximity" between the BJP government and Adani Group and a committee set up with terms of reference proposed by the ruling dispensation "can hardly carry any insignia or reassurance of independence or transparency".

Calling the proposal a "carefully orchestrated exercise" by "vested interests" to "cover-up, avoid, evade and bury all genuine scrutiny", he said, it is "imperative that the link between (Gautam) Adani and the ruling regime is examined in the full light of day by elected officials accountable to the public".

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"If the Prime Minister and his government are to be held accountable, any committee other than a JPC will be nothing but an exercise in legitimisation and exoneration," Ramesh said in a statement.

His comments came against the backdrop of Supreme Court on February 13 "discussed the creation" of a committee of experts to examine the regulatory regime post the Adani-Hindenburg expose. The apex court asked the government to give its submission on this on Friday while Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said it could give the names for the committee in a sealed cover for its consideration.

This -- the setting up of a committee of exercise -- is an exercise initiated by two principal actors -- the government and the Adani Group, Ramesh alleged while adding that Mehta's submission in the court about giving names in sealed cover supports it.

"Given the nature of these allegations, it is imperative that the link between Adani and the ruling regime is examined in the full light of day by elected officials accountable to the public. An evaluation of the regulatory and statutory regime by experts is in no manner equivalent to an investigation by a JPC," he said.

"Such a committee (of experts), however competently staffed, cannot be a substitute for a thorough investigation into the political-corporate nexus that has come to light in the last two weeks. It simply does not have the authority, resources, or jurisdiction to examine the issues that the Opposition has raised," Ramesh said.

He reminded that several JPCs have been constituted over the years to enquire into matters of public importance, such as irregularities in securities and banking transactions as well as the stock-market scam of 2001. These reports have been crucial to the prosecutions that have followed and have provided the bedrock for legislative changes to prevent similar manipulative practices," Ramesh added.