New Delhi, April 7
The government fully geared itself to face the Opposition parties in Parliament on the stock market crisis with market regulator SEBI Chairman D.R. Mehta assuring it that the interim inquiry report will be submitted by April 15, a day before Parliament reopens after recess.

“Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha had given an assurance that the report would be ready by mid-April and we will live up to it,” he told reporters after an hour-long meeting with Mr Sinha today.

Mr Mehta, who met Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Brajesh Mishra on Thursday, had apprised Mr Sinha on the “status of the report”.

The SEBI Chairman had airdashed to Delhi to hold talks with Mr Sinha and rushed back to Mumbai.

Meanwhile, The Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, said today that the government was determined to go to the “bottom” of the price manipulations in stocks, and action against the market watchdog Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) may be considered after the enquiry report is submitted.

“We are not going to deflect from our determination to go to the bottom of the whole thing”, Mr Sinha said on the sidelines of a function organised by the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development.

The Finance Minister, however, refused to be drawn into any speculation on the nature of penal action that the government may be considering.

“I cannot give any conclusion or opinion until we look at the report”, he said, adding that the charges against the regulator could be only that of “slackness” on its part.

Mr Sinha said the report would look into every detail, including the enhancing of statutory powers of SEBI.

He, however, said fluctuations in the stock markets was nothing unique to India and similar trends had been reported from major stock exchanges across the world.

The government is not unduly worried over the level of indices. The market players should comply to the rules of the game, he said.

More emphasis should be laid on eliminating the weakenesses of the system and investors should be ensured of a better return in the medium and long term.