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Govt not to appeal SC verdict on divestment

September 17, 2003 23:22 IST

Attorney General Soli Sorabjee on Wednesday ruled out the government going in for an appeal against the Supreme Court judgment halting privatisation of oil majors HPCL and BPCL.

"At the best, government can go in for a review," Sorabjee told PTI.

On the SC judgment, Sorabjee said contrasting views were possible in matters involving interpretation of statutes.

"No human being can claim infallibility, neither a lawyer nor a judge, when it comes to interpretation of statutes. Different benches of the Supreme Court have given different views on similar issues," Sorabjee said.

The Attorney General had given the opinion that no prior approval of Parliament was required for privatisation of the two oil PSUs.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday had restrained the Centre from going ahead with the privatisation of HPCL and BPCL saying the process cannot go ahead without prior approval from Parliament.

"Before giving the opinion, I had examined the provision of the Act acquiring the foreign oil companies, had gone through other Acts and concluded that there was no need for prior approval for an in-principle divestment in the two government oil companies," he said.

He said the Supreme Court took the view focussing on the preamble of the Act.


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