Lok Sabha adjourned till 12 noon after opposition disrupts proceedings

New Delhi: Lok Sabha was on Tuesday adjourned till 12 noon after opposition members disrupted the proceedings demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the fraud-allegation-triggered rout in Adani Group company stocks.

Soon after the House met, opposition members, including those from the Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi, were on their feet seeking to know the status of their demand for a probe into the tanking of the Adani Group scrips and sought a probe into the business practices of the corporate giant.

Speaker Om Birla appealed them to go back to their seats and participate in the debate.

“You are not interested in allowing the Question Hour to take place. This is not a good precedent. Question Hour should never be suspended and it was also decided by the presiding officers of Parliament,” he said.

However, the opposition members stuck to their demand and continued their protests even though they did not come to the well of the House.

Most of the opposition MPs were protesting from their seats but three of them were on the edge of the well.

As the opposition MPs did not heed to his pleas, Birla said, “Since you don't want to allow the House to function, I am adjourning it till 12 noon”.

Adani Group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after the US short-seller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations last fortnight in its report, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation at the Gautam Adani-led group, which has denied the charges. The market losses of the Adani Group have risen to nearly USD 103 billion (about Rs 8.5 lakh crore).

The rout in Adani group stocks has threatened the value of investments made by the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and public sector banks.