A parliamentary panel, of which former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a member, has called Reserve Bank of India governor Urjit Patel for the third-time to brief it on the government’s demonetisation move.
The 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by Veerappa Moily, has been deliberating on the issue for almost two years.
The government had scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8, 2016 and announced issuance of new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes.
Patel has been called on November 12 to brief the committee’s members on demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and the “ramifications thereof”, according to the panel’s meeting notice.
The RBI governor will also brief the committee on the banning of the Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill and related issues.
“Members wanted some more information and details about demonetisation, especially on its impact. Therefore, the RBI governor has been called,” Moily said when contacted.
He said perhaps this was for the first time when an RBI governor has been called by a panel for three times on the same issue.
Prior to this, Patel shared details related to demonetisation with the panel in January and July last year.
The panel could not adopt a draft report on the note-ban in August as BJP MPs in the panel, led by Nishikant Dubey, stalled the process.
However, Moily has repeatedly said no report on demonetisation was tabled before the panel.
So far, the panel has adopted more than 60 reports on various issues, unanimously. — PTI
