Mockery of public accountability: Congress slams SEBI over RTI rebuff

SEBI refuses to disclose conflicts of interest cases involving Chairperson Madhabi Buch, sparking transparency concerns and criticism.

The Congress has slammed SEBI's (Securities and Exchange Board of India) refusal to disclose instances when its chairperson Madhabi Buch recused herself due to conflict of interest and said that this makes a "mockery" of public accountability and transparency.

The cases where Ms. Buch recused herself due to potential conflict of interest are not "readily" available and collating them would "disproportionately divert" its resources, the securities market regulator said in an RTI response on Friday.

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In the response furnished to transparency activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd), the regulator also refused to provide copies of Ms. Buch's declarations to the government and SEBI Board on the financial assets and equities held by her and her family members on the grounds of these being "personal information" and that their disclosure may "endanger" personal safety.

Reacting to the development, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "The multiple conflicts of interest of the SEBI Chairperson that have been revealed so far are shocking in themselves. Now in a move that adds more fuel to the raging fire, SEBI has simply refused to divulge information to a RTI activist on instances of the SEBI Chairperson recusing herself on issues where there have been potential conflicts of interest."

"This makes a mockery of public accountability and transparency as far as SEBI is concerned," he said in a post on X late last night.

The SEBI has also denied to disclose the dates on which the disclosures were made. The SEBI Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) used the grounds of "personal information" and "safety" to deny a copy of those declarations.