SC ruling on oil PSUs sell-off an obstacle: Advani

NEW DELHI: Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on Thursday termed as an obstacle the Supreme Court ruling halting privatisation of oil firms HPCL and BPCL.
"It is an obstacle. But a Supreme Court''s judgement is not a weakness of the government. It is the law of the land and therefore you have to manoeuvre. You have to either circumvent it or find a way out," he told Karan Thapar''s ''Hardtalk'' programme on BBC World to be telecast on Friday.
The Supreme Court had last month asked the government to seek approval of Parliament for sale of its equity in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation.
Emphasising that the apex court ruling was not an end to the disinvestment policy, he said "this government is committed to economic reform" and several options are being examined.
"Though there have been difficulties created we are examining the judgement fully. And even after that (the SC judgement), the first meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment undertook several measures," he said.
Advani hoped to see major disinvestments in the remaining part of the fiscal. Asked if the revenue target of Rs 13,200 crore from disinvestment proceeds in 2003-04 would be met, he replied: "I hope so."
"I can''t guarantee it certainly because after all what is the law of the land? The Supreme Court pronounces the law of the land. And therefore we are face-to-face with the Supreme Court judgement, which we have to find a solution for," he said.