Divestment: surviving political controversies & court battle

facing an onslaught of charges and opposition, both from within and outside, coupled with prolonged legal battle, government ended the year 2001 with hopes that disinvestment momentum would pick up now to meet the massive target of mobilising rs 80,000 crore during the tenth plan period. despite ending the year with a high on scoring moral, legal and political victories on the disinvestment front, the government had very little to show as achievements in the face of aborted privatisation of air india and indian airlines and delays in executing disinvestment plans in many other high profile psus like vsnl, ibp and ipcl. sell-off process was marred by controversies, heated debates inside and outside parliament on issues of procedures and proprieties, differences within the government and its allies that prompted prime minister to elevate disinvestment ministry on the one hand while shifting some of the crucial ministers to give a pronounced pro-privatisation massage. detection of share price scam, involving some of the major bidders and advisors for psus slated for privatisation derailed the earlier momentum and an intense debate led to government coming out with eligibility norms to keep away the tainted companies. the favourable supreme court judgement upholding balco privatisation on december 10 would prove to be a major booster for the government in its future disinvestment programme. government also succeeded towards 2001 end in selling stake in profit-making cmc, htl and some hotels of itdc and hotel corporation of india to mop up over rs 425 crore while paving way for divestment in ipcl, ibp, vsnl and maruti udyog over the next few weeks to establish some semblance of credibility. before closing of any privatisation deal in 2001, much damage was done as all the shortlisted bidders for indian airlines and many aspirants for air india, vsnl etc were forced to retreat giving a body blow to the disinvestment process which was caught in the midst of procedural and valuation debates. it was only towards the end of the year, that government finally succeeded in breaking the disinvestment jinx as things started falling in place with prime minister setting deadlines for divestment in 13 psus during the current financial year. the post balco privatisation and security concerns relating to qualification of bidders for aviation companies, particularly in the wake of shortlisting of hindujas, who were chargesheeted in bofors case, created an uproar in parliament. during the debate in lok sabha, congress leader p r dasmunsi waived a letter purportedly written by the cabinet secretary t r prasad opposing privatisation of air india, which was immediately contested by disinvestment minister arun shourie and the issue was referred to cbi for a probe. meanwhile, shourie charged that corporate rivals were planting all kinds of misinformation to stall privatisation of particular psus and unfortunately political parties were falling prey to it. however, this led to issuance of privilege notices to shourie and the issue is yet to be settled.

Divestment: surviving political controversies & court battle

<img src=/photo.cms?msid=1554205913 align=left>FACING an onslaught of charges and opposition, both from within and outside, coupled with prolonged legal battle, government ended 2001 with hopes that disinvestment would pick up to meet massive targ...

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