The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has taken action against 66 stock brokers during the last three years from 1994/95 to 1996/97 upto February this year, the Lok Sabha was told yesterday. While action against 19 brokers had been taken during 1994/95, the number of brokers against whom action was taken stood at 10 during 1995/96 and 37 during 1996/97 upto February 1997, the minister of state for finance, M P Veerendra Kumar said in a written reply.
Besides, Sebi has issued show cause notices to 58 stock brokers and in some of these cases enquiry proceedings have also been initiated during 1996/97, the minister said.
Banks: As many as 5,721 public sector banks, except State Bank of India, and 518 private sector banks rural and semi-urban branches had been reported running into losses during 1995/96, the minister said. This was against a total of 8,749 public sector banks and 462 private sector banks rural and semi-urban loss making branches during the previous year, he said.
Appeals: As many as 2,99,334 appeals were pending before the income tax appellate tribunal as on December 31, 1996, the minister of state for legal affairs and legislative department, Ramakant D Khalap said. The government has recently decided to establish 15 new branches of the tribunal at Rajkot, Agra, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chandigarh, New Delhi, Jodhpur, Panaji and Visakhapatnam, the minister said.
Khadi: There has been no decline in khadi production in terms of value during the last three years, the industry minister, Murasoli Maran said. However, in terms of quantity, production has declined from 98.72 million sq mtrs in 1993/94 to 90.84 million sq mtrs in 1994/95, he said.
Newsprint: The total demand of standard newsprint was estimated at 6.95 lakh million tonnes in the country during 1997/98, the industry minister said. This was against a demand of 6.62 lakh mt, 6.30 lakh mt and 6.00 lakh mt during 1996/97, 1995/96 and 1994/95 respectively, he said.
Rozgar Yojana: The government will review the functioning of the Prime Ministers Rozgar Yojana and take action against senior bank officers who failed to achieve targets fixed under the scheme for the unemployed, finance minister P Chidambaram informed the Lok Sabha.
UGC: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has drafted new regulations for admissions and fee structure for self-financing courses in privae non-aided professional institutions, the minister of state for human resource development, Muhi Ram Saikia, told the Rajya Sabha.
Haldia: Agitated members in the Rajya Sabha asked government to probe the causes for closure of the Haldia Fertiliser plant and fix responsibility for the virtual non-commissioning of the unit since 1986. Dissatisfied with the reply of fertiliser minister, Sisram Ola that failure of the Haldia project was due to factors beyond control of individuals, the members said non-commissioning of the project was a serious issue and should be probed thoroughly.
