Govt puts off bids for SCI, HCL sale

The government is understood to have deferred 'indefinitely' the financial bidding for Shipping Corporation of India and Hindustan Copper Ltd in the wake of a spate of petitions challenging the divestment process in various courts.

Financial bids for both SCI and HCL, invited recently, were to close this week but the government has been forced to defer the receipt of bids on fears that the adverse verdict from the Supreme Court on public sector oil companies -- Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation -- could have a bearing in these cases.

Also Read The Divestment Dilemma

The divestment ministry is embroiled in over 30 cases in various high courts, they said.

Earlier SCI employees had filed a writ petition in Bombay high court, challenging divestment of the PSU on the grounds that the two shipping companies, Jayanti Shipping and Mogul Lines, acquired and nationalised, were later merged with SCI and therefore no divestment was possible without a parliamentary approval.

Furthermore, a public interest litigation filed by Forum for Justice and Peace at Delhi high court not only echoes the SCI employees' contention but also raises the general question of parliamentary approval for divestment in any PSU.

In the case of Hindustan Copper, the employees, taking a cue from the apex court verdict on oil PSUs, have filed writ petitions in Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand high courts.

The Indian Copper Complex Workers Union, Ghatsila, have approached the high court at Ranchi while another four Unions of the Khetri Smelter Complex have approached the Supreme Court on the ground that Ghatsila complex had been acquired by Act of Parliament.