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SC stays Balco proceedings in courts

Even as the controversy over the divestment of the Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco)continues, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed all proceedings on petitions challenging divestment in the public sector company before the high courts at Delhi and Chhattisgarh.

A bench comprising Justice B N Kirpal, Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Justice Ruma Pal also issued notices to the Balco Employees' Union, the government appointed valuers and global consultants for the divestment and the proposed strategic partner Sterlite Industries Ltd.

The order was passed after hearing arguments from Attorney General Soli Sorabjee and advocate Maninder Singh on the Centre's petition seeking transfer of petitions pending before the Chhattisgarh and Delhi high courts to the SC.

The Centre said attempts were being made by the Union and others to taint the decision-making process of the government with unsubstantiated and unfounded allegations.

"Any overt or covert challenge to the valuation mechanism being followed in the Balco case too must fail since the same has been arrived at by experts in the field namely Jardine Fleming and P V Rao, whose expertise and judgement cannot be easily doubted," the Centre said.

The government said that judicial review does not endeavour to substitute the judgement of the experts with that of the courts and it has in fact been held consistently that the findings of experts being used on empirical data, relevant material and evidence would never be interfered with unless the same was palpably unreasonable, irrational and untenable.

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