Manmohan comes to rescue of Urjit Patel as panel grills him on note ban

NEW DELHI: Amid heated and often partisan politics over demonetisation , former PM Manmohan Singh came to the rescue of embattled RBI governor Urjit Patel on Wednesday, saying Patel need not respond to a query whether banking restrictions were not being lifted as this would result in a run on banks.Singh pointedly intervened during a meeting of the standing committee on finance when Congress MP Digvijaya Singh suggested that Patel was not clearly answering a question on withdrawal of restrictions as he would have to admit that removal of restraints would result in chaos. “You need not answer that question,“ Singh told Patel, ending the line of inquiry and MPs did not press the governor on the issue, perhaps in deference to Singh's standing and experience as a former central bank governor himself.The sequence of events saw BJP MP Nishikant Dubey posing two questions on “behalf “ of Digvijaya Singh as the meeting was drawing to a close on how much money had been deposited by De cember 30 and when restrictions would be removed.Coming from a strong critic of demonetisation -Singh has described the measure as monumental mismanagement and organised loot -the remarks ensured a more sedate discussion than might have been the case. Senior Congress member and panel chair Veerappa Moily urged members ahead of Patel's appearance that the institution of RBI and the governor's status be respected and honoured. “Questions should be put politely ,“ Moily said. He said the committee had been functioning in a nonpartisan manner and he hoped this would continue. He said officials should not be pressed on points that they did not have clarity .Sources said comments by the two senior Congress leaders defused political tension that could have been reflected in the committee's proceedings, particularly in the midst of electioneering where demonetisation is a key issue.The query on banking restrictions, in the context of the Rs 24,000 per week and the earlier Rs 2,500 daily limit on ATM withdrawals, suggested that without such restric tions, banks would have witnessed chaos. Later, Patel explained that the average per savings account withdrawal was between Rs 12-13,000 prior to demonetisation. A tougher tenor adopted by members like Digvijaya with regard to Patel's responses was blunted when Moily observed that witnesses who appeared before the committee could not be forced to answer questions.There was some frustration over Patel and senior finance ministry officials who briefed the committee before the RBI governor met the panel not providing specific answers, considerable time was consumed by members posing questions. Sources said since members were not restricted to asking a certain number of questions, some went on for a while, consuming the panel's time. The members asked several questions that will be answered in detail later.