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Historic verdict: Ram Naik

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI SEPT. 16. The Union Petroleum Minister, Ram Naik, described here today the Supreme Court's stay on disinvestment in oil companies as "historic". Apparently happy over the verdict, he, however, did not agree that it was his "victory" or the "defeat" of the Disinvestment Minister, Arun Shourie.

He said he had expressed his views but finally it was the collective decision of the Union Cabinet and he was a party to it. He said the Government would respect the court verdict.

The Supreme Court has stayed the disinvestment move stating that the public sector oil companies, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum, had come into being by a Parliamentary Act and hence disinvestment also needed parliamentary approval.

Mr. Naik said the Disinvestment Ministry, being the nodal Ministry, would study the court's 20-page order and would give its views on it to the Petroleum Ministry for its opinion and then the matter would go to the Union Cabinet for a final decision which could be a parliamentary bill.

Asked about the prospects of such a bill getting passed, Mr. Naik said: "We are practical people and will discuss it with the Congress. We have got banking and the LIC bills passed earlier despite having no majority in the Rajya Sabha."

Not in the way of privatisation

Mr. Naik did not think that the Supreme Court's decision would hamper privatisation since other public sector companies were not the result of a Parliamentary Act that nationalised foreign companies.

He ruled out the possibility of the Government going in for disinvestment in other PSUs in the oil sector such as the ONGC and Indian Oil.

He praised the working of Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum which had earned over Rs. 23,000 crores. The delay in disinvestment would not affect the disinvestment prospects of these companies having such a high intrinsic value, he said.

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