The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Top secys want meeting put off, PAC says no
DEMONETISATION: FINANCE MINISTRY OFFICIALS TOLD TO DEPOSE
EVEN AS the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) gets set for the deposition of RBI Governor Urjit Patel and senior Finance Ministry officials, three top secretaries from the ministry have asked the panel to reschedule the January 28 meeting, citing preparations for the Budget which is to be presented on February 1.
While the panel declined to entertain their request, it has decided to call Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia and Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal one by one, instead of calling them together as per the earlier plan, said sources.
The three officers are learnt to have asked PAC Chairman K V Thomas to postpone the meeting till the Budget Session is over.
“There will be no change in the scheduled meeting of the PAC on January 28, when the panel has asked RBI Governor Urjit Patel and these Finance Ministry officers to be present. But we do understand that the officers must be having engagements related to the key financial exercise of Budget making. So steps will be taken to ensure that not much of their time is taken during the deposition,” said a source.
The three officers are likely to depose for an hour each.
At a meeting on December 1, thepachadtakenuptheissuesuo motu, and decided to call the RBI Governor and Finance Ministry officers to assess the “monetary policy”ofthegovernment,includingtheimpactofdemonetisation.
The PAC will try to present the report on demonetisation in the Budget Session.
Asked about the next course of action, Thomas told The Sunday Express, “Let the PAC first take the views of RBI Governor, Economic Affairs Secretary, Revenue Secretary and Financial Services Secretary. PAC members will discuss and decide whether there is a need to call public sector banks or not.”
Besides the PAC, at least three more parliamentary panels are looking into different aspects of demonetisation.
Three of the four parliamentary committees are chaired by Congress members.
The Standing Committee on Finance, headed by senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily, has decided to call the RBI Governor and heads of top public sector banks on two separate days this month.
At its meeting on December 22, when the panel was briefed on demonetisation and its impact by experts, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a member of the panel, had wondered whether the RBI was given enough time to deliberate on the decision.
On Friday, Patel also appeared before the Rajya Sabha Standing Committee on Subordinate Legislation chaired by T Subbarami Reddy.
Meanwhile, the Parliament’s Standing Committee of Information Technology, which met on January 5, discussed the issue of security of digital payment gateways.
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