New Delhi: The government has asked Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) to reconvene the board meeting and review more transparently the controversial decision of investing Rs 1,200 crore in Tata Tele services.

The senior officials from Tatas-managed VSNL and ministry of communication are believed to have held a closed-door meeting to resolve the issue in which the ministry has reiterated that VSNL must review its decision taken in the board meeting on May 28.

As long as the investments by VSNL are done in a manner that the value of those investments equally benefit all shareholders, Department of Telecommunication or government as a minority shareholder will not object to it, highly placed sources told reporters.

For this, VSNL board must be made aware of all the pros and cons of the investment and give opinion on the company into which investment is being proposed, they said.

The meeting took place on June 6 and Tatas are expected to respond to the ministry's requirement by June 7 or 8 failing which the government would exercise its options, they added.

Sources said that senior VSNL officials including Kishore Chauker and N Srinath have held a series of meetings with ministry officials besides meeting the Communications Minister Pramod Mahajan.

They said that the government's objective was to ensure that the value of investments in various companies including VSNL continued to increase and not diminish.

PTI