The Supreme Court (SC) of India has sought the preliminary enquiry (PE) report prepared by the CBI about the alleged discrepancies in the Government’s decision to divest 29.5pc stake in Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL).
In January 2016, SC stopped Government’s attempt to divest the remaining 29.5pc of the stake from HZL. Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Group owns a majority stake in HZL.
Two options are being explored — to either sell the remaining shares to Vedanta or conduct the auction at the stock exchange. Meanwhile, Vedanta Group informed the court on Tuesday that it is ready to participate in the auction.
In 2002-03, the central government divested its major stake in HZL and Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco) and was looking for an exit from the two companies since then. Government has 49pc stake in Balco.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing on behalf of National Confederation of Officers’ Association has alleged that the disinvestment was done illegally in 2002-03.