SC committee will be more effective than JPC: Sharad Pawar on Adani row

If a JPC has 21 members, 15 will be from the ruling party and six from the opposition due to numerical strength in Parliament, which will create doubts on the panel, said Pawar

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Saturday said he is not completely opposed to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the charges against the Adani group, but a Supreme Court committee will be more useful and effective.

Talking to reporters, Pawar said if a JPC has 21 members, 15 will be from the ruling party and six from the opposition due to numerical strength in Parliament, which will create doubts on the panel.

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He said the apex court decided to appoint a panel of retired Supreme Court judges with a direction of submitting the report in a specific time period.

“I am not completely opposed to the JPC…there have been JPCs and I have been a chairman of some of the JPCs. The JPC will be constituted on the basis of majority (in Parliament). Instead of a JPC, I am of the opinion the Supreme Court committee is more useful and effective,” Pawar said.

The NCP chief also said he was not aware of the antecedents of United States-based Hindenburg Research, which has alleged stock manipulation and accounting fraud in firms belonging to billionaire Gautam Adani.

It has resulted in strident protests by the opposition Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi, and others against the Narendra Modi government seeking a JPC probe. The Adani group has refuted the allegations.

“One foreign company takes a position about the situation in the country. We should decide how much focus should be on this. Instead of this (JPC), a Supreme Court panel is more effective,” Pawar added.

In an interview to NDTV, Pawar came out in support of the Adani Group and criticised the narrative around Hindenburg Research’s report on the conglomerate.

“Such statements were given by other individuals earlier too and there was a ruckus in Parliament for a few days but this time out-of-proportion importance was given to the issue,” he said.

“The issues that were kept, who kept them, we had never heard of these people who gave the statement, what is the background. When they raise issues that cause a ruckus across the country, the cost is borne by the country’s economy, we cannot disregard these things. It seems this was targeted,” Pawar had said.