M A I N   N E W S

Advani, Yashwant get clean chit
No proof found in Jain hawala case 

New Delhi, April 26
The government said today that the recent appraisal reports prepared by the Income Tax authorities have not found any material to conclude that Home Minister L. K. Advani and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha were guilty of amassing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.

Solicitor-General Harish Salve told the Delhi High Court that press reports appearing in major dailies were false. “I am making a statement before the Bar that there is no substance in allegations against the Home and Finance Ministers,” he told a Division Bench of Chief Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice D. K. Jain.

Yesterday, Mr Salve had presented a status report on each case against 18 politicians and bureaucrats who stood trial in the Rs 65 crore Jain hawala case. The report presented to judges in a sealed cover was based on discrete inquiries conducted by the investigative wing of the Income Tax Department.

“These news reports clearly give a distorted picture of proceedings in the court and unnecessarily cast aspersions on the persons named in them,” said Mr B. D. Sinha, Additional Director of the Income Tax Department’s investigative unit, in an urgent application filed before the court.

The judges first said the matter would be taken up at 2 p.m., but later postponed it. It is likely to come up tomorrow or on Monday. Among the respondents are The Times of India, the Indian Express, the Hindustan Times and the Press Trust of India (PTI).

The government urged the court to issue directions for not publishing any further reports as to the contents of material disclosed by the Income Tax Department to the court in a sealed cover.

The government said it is open for the press to investigate on their own and publish whatever it considers appropriate.

But it is necessary that if the news report relates to court proceedings in matters such as this, then they should be accurate and not contain any of the incorrect, much less false insinuation, as to the contents of material disclosed by the Income Tax Department to the court in a sealed cover in camera.

The court is hearing public interest litigation (PIL) seeking an expeditious probe into the alleged tax evasion by those against whom the Income Tax Department had prepared two reports for acquiring income disproportionate to their known sources of income during 1989-91. UNI

30-member JPC to probe stock scam
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 26
The Government today announced the appointment of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC), comprising 20 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha to probe the recent stock scam.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan moved a resolution in the Lok Sabha in this regard. He said the Lok Sabha Speaker would nominate one of the committee members as the chairman of JPC.

The committee, which will start functioning from the day it is constituted, will identify the misuse, if any, and failures or inadequacies in the control and supervisory mechanism.

Mr Mahajan said the JPC would submit its report to Parliament by the end of the next session.

The JPC would probe recent irregularities and manipulations in the stock market, including insider trading, relating to shares and other financial instruments.

It would go into the role of banks, brokers and promoters, stock exchanges, financial institutions, corporate entities and regulatory authorities and fix responsibility of persons, institutions or authorities in these transactions, Mr Mahajan said.

According to its terms of reference, the JPC would make recommendations for the safeguards and improvements in the system to prevent recurrence of such failures and suggest measures to protect small investors.

It would also suggest deterrent measures against those found guilty of violating the regulations.

The members of the JPC from the Lok Sabha are: Mr Manishankar Aiyar, Mrs Margaret Alva, Mr V. P. Badnore, Mr Baliram, Mr Anant G Geete, Mr Vijay Goel, Mr C. Kuppusami, Mr Jagannath Mallik, Mr Rupchand Pal, Mr P. H. Pandian, Mr Harin Pathak, Mr Pravin Rashtrapal, Mr S. Jaipal Reddy, Mr Akhilesh Singh, Mr Maheshwar Singh, Mr Prabhunath Singh, Mr Kirit Somaiya, Mr Kharabela Swain, Mr Prakash Mani Tripathi and Mr K.Yerrannaidu.

The resolution, which was adopted unanimously by the Lok Sabha, has been sent to the Rajya Sabha for it to nominate 10 members.