The Planning Commission has directed the ministry of mines to seek the Cabinet's approval on the decision to halt work on the divestment of National Aluminum Company.

The Divestment Development: Complete Coverage

At the recent quarterly performance review, it was pointed out that the divestment ministry could not stop the selloff process in the public sector mining company on the basis of a public announcement made by the Prime Minister.

"Since the decision to divest the company was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Divestment, the decision to halt the process has to be cleared by the same committee," government officials told Business Standard.

They pointed out that the divestment ministry could not drop or delay the sale option -- strategic or through market offering -- without the Cabinet's approval.

Divestment process

The Planning Commission said the disinvestment ministry could not stop the selloff process in Nalco on the basis of a public announcement made by the Prime Minister The process was put on hold after an announcement by Prime Minister AB Vajpayee on July 15 this year The government intended to offload 10% of its holding in the company through a domestic issue and 20% through an ADR issue

The Nalco selloff process was put on hold after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee ruled out, for the time being, divestment in the public sector mining major at a public meeting near Bhubaneshwar on July 15 this year.

The government intended to offload 10 per cent of its holding in the company through a domestic issue and 20 per cent through an American depository receipts issue towards the end of this calendar year.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the auditor for the sale, was planning a visit to the company around the time that the divestment ministry stopped all work on its sale, following Vajpayee's announcement.