Govt considering options on HPCL, BPCL sell-off

NEW DELHI: A day after deciding to prepare a status paper spelling out various alternatives for overcoming the hurdles imposed by Supreme Court verdict on privatisation of two oil PSUs, Law Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said the government was considering various options on the issue.
Asked whether the government had given any thought to various options before it followed apex court''s verdict on halting privatisation of HPCL and BPCL, Jaitley said, "The thought is there in the mind but not in the media".
Last week the apex court ordered the government to halt disinvestment of two oil marketing enterprises on the ground that the prior approval of Parliament was needed.
On Thursday, Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie had announced that his ministry would finalise an ''option paper'' on the issue which would be sent to the Law Ministry and then to the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment that is slated to meet early next month.
The government is considering various options to overcome the hurdles, including the issue of seeking a review or opting for a clarification.
The cabinet committee on disinvestment had decided in January to offload 34 per cent stake in HPCL and 35 per cent in BPCL.