The divestment ministry on Monday swung into action filing caveats in different high courts to ward off possible litigation challenging the oil sector divestment, cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Divestment after a year-long stand-off with the petroleum ministry.

"The Cabinet had cleared in principle  the divestment of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd in February 2002. It has taken nearly one year to give a concrete shape to the decision. We do not want the process to get snagged by a public interest litigation in some corner of the country," a senior divestment ministry official said.

The government has filed caveats in the Bombay high court, the Calcutta high court, the Madras high court and the high courts in Madhya Pradesh and Punjab and Haryana, the official said.

A similar caveat would be filed in the Supreme Court later on Tuesday even as the government's legal officials have been asked to keep an eye on possible public interest litigations.

The government is keen to avoid a situation akin to Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd, which got bogged down by public interest litigation.

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court upheld the divestment of Balco in December 2001 and ruled that courts should stay away from matters of economic policy unless it violated any provision of the Constitution.