The Supreme Court on Monday granted permission to the federal government to sell off 10 percent shares of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) of its 85 percent holding in the company on a condition that privatisation proceeds would not be spent from Federal Consolidated Fund (FCF) till court''s final decision on the federation''s appeal against Peshawar High Court''s (PHC) verdict through which the high court had issued an interim order to freeze the process.
A three-member bench led by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk also issued notices to top law officers of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. On October 3, the PHC issued an interim order in response to a plea filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) government that had claimed an equitable share in OGDCL shares'' sale. During the previous hearing, the Supreme Court had granted interim relief to the federal government and allowed the federation to accept bid offers from prospective entities without transferring the OGDCL shares till a final decision of the court.
The apex court had also sought the record of proceedings in the PHC; and on Monday the federal government was allowed to offer OGDCL shares; however, the KPK government''s claim would be examined after hearing the other three provinces. Wasim Sajjad, the counsel for the KPK government, argued that post-18th Amendment mineral resources are to be distributed among all the provinces equally.
Sajjad further contended that as a federating unit every province should have a mechanism to work out shares in mineral resources and urged the court to issue directives to the federal government to avoid the sale of OGDCL shares. He reiterated that the federal government did not consult his client over the decision to sell OGDCL shares, saying the Council of Common Interest (CCI) had given its approval in 1997 to the sale of assets of the company and the sale is covered in Article 173 of the Constitution of Pakistan.
Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk remarked that the federal government was not selling the ownership of OGDCL, but only 10 percent of its shares in the company. Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Salman Aslam Butt submitted that an asset or a property is in fact a public trust and belongs to the 180 million citizens of Pakistan. Butt further argued that OGDCL, with an exploration licence and production lease, was a public limited company and provinces had shares only in the lease money, concessions and royalty on the minerals, oil and natural gas in their jurisdiction.
Butt averred that the federal government does not require a permission from province(s) if it decides to sell shares of an individual company and provinces have the right to claim equal shares only if there is any issue of royalty. The AGP said that KPK government is creating an impression that there is a national economic crisis - an impression that would negatively impact on the inflow of foreign investment in the country. The hearing of matter was adjourned for three weeks.
APP adds: The Supreme Court on Monday allowed an interim approval for the privatisation of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL). The court also directed to keep the privatisation money in the Federal Consolidated Fund and should not use the money until the final decision by the court. This was directed by a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk and comprising Justice Ameer Hani Muslim and Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry.
During the course of proceedings, the counsel for the KPK government, Waseem Sajjad, pleaded that the court should not issue an interim order on the privatisation of the OGDCL as the provincial government also had shares in the company and the decision would cause an unprecedented loss on the KPK government. He maintained that the company had two shareholders and as per law one owner could not sell the company without the consent of other. Meanwhile, Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt requested the bench to give interim approval for the sale of OGDCL shares. Upon which the court released a short order while issuing notices to all the four advocates general and adjourned further hearing of the case for three weeks.
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