Divesment Minister Arun Shourie said on Tuesday he had apprised Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee about the Attorney General Soli Sorabjee's opinion on privatisation of oil public sector units Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, but the issue did not come up for discussion at the Cabinet this morning.

"He (PM) knows the opinion," Shourie told reporters when asked if he had apprised the PM about AG's opinion.

Shourie, however, declined to comment as to what was the opinion of Sorabjee, which was submitted to him on Monday.

Asked if the issue came up for discussion in the Cabinet, Shourie said after the meeting,  "No. Cabinet is not concerned with this. I had to give the opinion to PM and I have given it."

Asked when the Cabinet Committee on Divesment would meet to discuss the schedule and modalities of divestment in the two companies, he said the meeting would be held only after Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani returns from his foreign tour later this month.

Sorabjee is understood to have opined that there was no need for Parliament approval for privatisation of HPCL and BPCL, which were acquired and nationalised in 1970s through Acts of Parliament.