Who is Madhabi Puri Buch really accountable to?

livemint.com:

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) should testify quarterly before the standing committee on finance, where Buch can address the charges against her as part of her regular testimony. Regulatory integrity must, of course, be substantive and visibly so. This makes it imperative to clear the air over the charges levelled against Buch.

The manner in which this is achieved matters, too: there must be no regulatory vacuum, or dilution of regulatory authority or discontinuity — India’s securities markets are too important for unproven allegations to punch holes in its regulatory umbrella. How serious are the charges against Buch? It transpires that the allegation of harsh/foul language raised in a letter from Sebi employees to the finance ministry was an anonymous missive and not a representation from any Sebi employees’ association. Whatever its status, Buch should take care that efforts to improve efficiency and regulatory throughput at Sebi stay within conduct that qualifies to be called civilized.

After a clarification issued by ICICI Bank, where Buch worked before choosing voluntary superannuation in 2013 to join her husband in Singapore, the Congress party’s charge that she has been deriving an income from ICICI Bank while being employed at Sebi looks silly. Her remuneration at ICICI Bank included stock options, which vest for a number of years and have to be exercised within a stipulated time period. It is only natural that she would exercise her stock options, and realise the resultant income.

Such earnings represent deferred payout of remuneration earned during employment, which, in Buch’s case, ended in 31 October 2013. Interpreting this as a current salary from ICICI Bank is absurd. Read this | Sebi's