New Delhi: The Supreme Court on April 14 issued a notice to the Centre on a petition challenging the validity of its decision to privatise public sector oil giants BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd) and HPCL (Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd) without seeking Parliamentary approval.

A Division Bench comprising Justice S Rajendra Babu and Justice G P Mathur issued the notice on a petition by Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), which contended that the decision could have only been taken through an Act of Parliament, as it was supreme in the Constitutional scheme of things.

The government had on January 26 2002, decided to sell its 34.01 per cent stake in HPCL to a strategic investor and divest 38.2 per cent in BPCL through market offering, 6 days after Attorney General Soli Sorabjee opined that Parliament's approval was not required for the same.

HPCL and BPCL, which together command 40 per cent petromarket share, were nationalised through an Act of Parliament in the 1970s and the petitioner contended that disinvestments in these two oil companies could be done either by repealing or amending the Acquisition Acts concerned and there was no other way of going about it.

The petitioner cited a report of the Standing Committee of Petroleum Ministry laid in Parliament in December 2002, which categorically stated that disinvestment in oil companies, could not be done without Parliament passing a bill approving the move.

PTI