Congress seeks SC monitored probe into IL&FS crisis
New Delhi, Sep 26 : Calling the IL&FS crisis India's Lehman Brothers moment, the Congress on Wednesday sought a Supreme Court monitored multi-agency probe saying the irregularities in it has brought India on the verge of economic collapse.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the IL&FS Group, an infrastructure development and finance company, has a total debt of Rs 91,000 crore as on March 31, 2018 and was in no position to pay back its dues and had started defaulting.
"This is such a serious matter that a multi-agency investigation needs to be carried out under the Supreme Court's monitoring," Tewari said and questioned how a company with 40 per cent stake of government institutions was allowed to pile up Rs 91,000 crore debt.
The equity structure of IL&FS Ltd includes LIC's 25.34 per cent, Central Bank of India's 7.67 per cent and State Bank of India's 6.42 per cent. Besides, Orix Corp of Japan owns 23.5 per cent and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority owns 12.5 per cent.
He said a high-level probe was needed to ascertain how central government employees nominated by LIC, CBI and SBI in the IL&FS Board could allow the group's debt to rise 44 per cent in the last three years to a debt to a net worth ratio of 16.78 to one.
Tewari said the IL&FS crisis was seven times more than the combined economic offence of Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. He said the unlisted company has a very opaque corporate structure and rating agencies have classified its equity as junk.
"IL&FS is on the verge of collapse and if that were to happen it will have a domino effect like after Lehman Brothers one after the other financial institutions started tumbling. Already on Monday and Tuesday, the markets have been yo-yoing because of this," he said.
The Congress leader attacked the Modi government saying the Prime Minister's Office and the Finance Ministry were putting pressure on Reserve Bank of India (RBI), SBI, LIC and National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to bail out the company.
While the government has maintained that as IL&FS is a private company it will not intervene, the biggest shareholder LIC has recently said it will not let IL&FS collapse and was open to all options including raising stake in the company.
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BJP's Suvendu urges Bengal Guv to order independent judicial inquiry into Messi event fiasco
Kolkata(PTI): Leader of Opposition in West Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Saturday wrote to Governor C V Ananda Bose, seeking an independent judicial inquiry into “administrative incompetence” and “public humiliation of citizens”at the Salt Lake Stadium here during an event featuring football legend Lionel Messi.
In his letter, Adhikari alleged that the stadium, built with public funds, was converted into a “private durbar” for political elites, resulting in humiliation and harassment of spectators who had purchased tickets.
"I write this communication with a profound sense of anguish, constitutional alarm, and moral urgency. What unfolded at the Yuva Bharati Krirangan was not merely an episode of administrative incompetence, it was a public humiliation of citizens, a grotesque exhibition of unrestrained political privilege, and a direct assault on the rule of law in the presence of thousands of witnesses," Adhikari asserted.
He claimed that football fans were denied basic amenities and dignified viewing due to unchecked VIP presence, obstruction of sightlines, and arbitrary restrictions.
Chaos unfolded at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday, after spectators resorted to vandalism on failing to catch a glimpse of Messi, alleging gross mismanagement by the organisers and obstruction of views by VIPs.
Police arrested the event’s prime organiser, Satadru Datta, while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the constitution of a high-level inquiry committee to probe the incident.
Adhikari, in his letter, held the sports department, police authorities and the minister-in-charge of sports and youth affairs responsible, alleging that the situation was “enabled, if not orchestrated”, by the state administration.
He claimed that the conduct of the authorities reflected indifference to public accountability and misuse of power.
The senior BJP leader also took exception to the inquiry committee announced by the chief minister, contending that it lacked independence and credibility.
Adhikari said the panel is headed by Justice (Retd) Asim Ray, who currently holds a statutory post under the administrative control of the state government, and includes senior bureaucrats whose actions are under scrutiny.
"This committee is structurally compromised, legally infirm, and morally indefensible," he said in the letter to the governor.
Adhikari urged Bose to exercise his constitutional authority to order the formation of a truly independent inquiry committee.
He proposed that the committee be headed by a sitting judge of the Calcutta High Court, and assisted by persons of unimpeachable integrity with no institutional, administrative or political affiliation with the state government.
“The issue transcends football, politics, and personalities. It concerns the right of citizens to be treated with dignity, the obligation of the state to act as trustee of public interest, and the duty of constitutional authorities to intervene when the executive becomes a law unto itself,” Adhikari said.
Later, speaking to reporters, he accused the state government of mismanaging the situation at Salt Lake Stadium, and demanded the resignation of the CM.
Adhikari said all those responsible for the fiasco should be arrested, and spectators must be provided refunds.
He alleged that senior Trinamool Congress leaders and their associates crowded around Messi, leaving thousands of fans at the stadium deprived of catching a clear glimpse of the football star.
“This was a case of misuse of power at the cost of ordinary citizens. The chief minister must take moral responsibility, those responsible for the incident should be arrested, and every fan who was cheated must get a refund,” Adhikari asserted.
He added that public anger would not subside without accountability and corrective action.
