Govt forced to defer SCI, HCL sell-off

NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of halting the disinvestment in oil PSUs, the sell-off process has suffered another setback with the government deciding to defer ''indefinitely'' the closing of financial bids for Shipping Corporation of India and Hindustan Copper Ltd.
The decision is believed to have been taken by the government in view of a host of court cases challenging disinvestment of SCI and HCL.
According to sources, the adverse decision of the Supreme Court halting disinvestment process in the two nationalised oil PSUs, HPCL and BPCL, could have a bearing on other privatisation cases.
The financial bids for SCI were slated to close on October 20, while bids for HCL were to be received before October 15.
As many as three bidders, Essar, Sterlite and Videocon, were in race for acquiring the government''s 51 per cent stake in SCI. The disinvestment process for HCL, where the government proposes to offload 98 per cent equity, attracted two bidders - Sterlite and Birla Copper.
Two petitions challenging privatisation of SCI were pending before various courts. The SCI employees have filed a writ petition opposing the disinvestment of the company without a Parliamentary approval, on the ground that two nationalised companies, Jayanti Shipping and Mogul Lines, had been merged with SCI.
The government is embroiled in four court cases relating to HCL including a petition in Supreme Court by workers of the company''s Khetri complex.

The workers have pleaded that HCL''s Ghatsila complex had been acquired through a Parliamentary Act and therefore no disinvestment was possible without amendment or repeal of the Act.
Sources said that the decision to defer indefinitely the receipt of financial bids for SCI and HCL was prompted by apprehensions that any adverse verdict could impose a heavy cost on the government as various advisors would have to be paid fees for their services.