Supreme Court allows Centre to disinvest Hindustan Zinc shares

Supreme Court allows Centre to disinvest Hindustan Zinc shares

The direction comes, as the PSU is not a government company anymore

The Supreme Court has allowed the Central government to disinvest its remaining shares in Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL).

The Bench of Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice A S Bopanna held that the Centre could disinvest the remaining 29.5 percent of its shares in HZL since it is not a government-owned company anymore.

HZ is an Indian integrated mining and resources producer of zinc, lead, silver and cadmium and a subsidiary of Vedanta Limited.

In 2016, the Supreme Court had directed the Central government to maintain the status quo on the proposed disinvestment of HZL, a public sector undertaking (PSU). The government was thus restricted from initiating any process of further disinvestment of its shares in the PSU.

Appearing on behalf of the petitioner, advocate Prashant Bhushan had filed a Right to Information (RTI) query on why HZL's shares were disinvested. The response revealed that 50 percent of the shares of HZL were disinvested and sold to Vedanta, which according to Bhushan, had been done by the government to fill its pockets.

The top court has also directed the registration of a regular case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the disinvestment of shares. The bench noted there was a prima facie case of investigation in view of irregularities in the bidding process and sale of shares.