Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Feb 19, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Feb 19, 2003 |
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Industry & Economy
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Disinvestment Opposition grills Govt on profit-making PSUs' sell-off Our Bureau
NEW DELHI, Feb. 18 THE Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday mounted a fresh attack on the Government's decision to privatise profit-making PSUs. During a short-duration discussion in the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition members demanded that the Government should elicit the views of Parliament before selling companies such as HPCL and BPCL, which were created through the Acts of Parliament. Initiating the discussion, Mr Pranab Mukherjee (Cong) sought to know how a PSU set up under an Act of Parliament could be disinvested without Parliamentary approval. "If the executive takes any decision without Parliamentary approval or without amending the relevant Acts, where lies Parliamentary accountability,'' he asked. Mr Mukherjee opposed the sale of assets to meet revenue expenditure and asked the Centre to come out with a clear policy framework on disinvestment of profit-making PSUs. Participating in the discussion, the TDP member, Mr C. Ramachandraiah, said that the disinvestment of oil PSUs could result in creation of monopolies by the private sector and deterioration in the quality of national resources such as hydro-carbons. He also wanted the Centre to take into confidence the State Governments that were affected by the Centre's decision on disinvestment. Mr Dipankar Mukherjee (CPM) accused the Government of imposing a minority decision on the majority and said most of the political parties had opposed the move to privatise the profit-making PSUs. The Shiv Sena was opposed to the disinvestment of profit-making PSUs, its member, Mr Sanjay Nirupam, said. He also called for summoning the Attorney General to the House to clarify the members' doubts on the issue of Parliamentary approval for disinvestment in HPCL and BPCL.
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