Govt in SC and Naik are like oil and water

Sorabjee made this plea when the court was hearing a petition challenging disinvestment in a third PSU, Kolkata-based engineering giant Jessop & Co Ltd.

‘‘The judgement’s potential ramifications and widespread consequences cast clouds over the entire disinvestment process,’’ he said, referring to its sweeping observation that no undertaking set up with money from the Consolidated Fund can be disinvested without Parliamentary approval.

Significantly, the Chief Justice himself made an opening for the Government by asking Sorabjee at the outset whether the petition against the disinvestment in Jessop should be allowed on account of the verdict in the case of the oil PSUs.

This was the first time the apex court was considering the question of disinvestment since a two-judge bench headed by Justice S Rajendra Babu delivered the controversial judgment in the BPCL/HPCL matter on September 16.

Sorabjee asserted that far from letting the September 16 verdict remain the law of the land, the apex court should reconsider several aspects of it which go beyond the scope of the case. The court adjourned the matter for two weeks as the petitioner in the Jessop case, the PSU’s staff association, sought time to respond to the affidavit filed by the Government defending the sale of 72 per cent stake in it to the Ruia group.

Thus, thanks to today’s hearing in the Jessop case, the Government has now gained a toehold to get over the BPCL/HPCL verdictm without resorting to the usual remedies of filing a review petion or clarification petition before the very bench that delivered the judgment. Sorabjee did not get an opportunity to elaborate on the Government’s objections as Justice Ar Lakshmanan, one of the three judges comprising the bench that was due to hear the matter, was absent.

As a result, Justice Khare adjourned all the matters meant to be heard by the three-judge bench.