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TMI Blog2002 (8) TMI 574X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 02 whereby and whereunder the Government agreed to sell unto it, 25 per cent of its equity shareholding under disinvestments plan propounded by it. The petitioner, however, is not in possession of a copy of the said agreement entered into between the parties. It is stated that in terms of the said agreement, the employees of VSNL are not to be retrenched for a specified period and in the event of reduction in strength of the employees of VSNL, efforts are required to be made to restore physically handicapped persons in employment of the Government as far as practical. 3. Mr. Maheshwari, who is petitioner No. 2 herein and has appeared in person, submitted that although he had written to the Ministry of Law to provide him with a copy of the said agreement and despite the fact that he was ready and willing to bear the requisite cost(s) therefor, he had not been supplied the same. It is not in dispute that the contention of the petitioner is entirely based on newspaper reports. The petitioner on the basis of newspaper reports stated : "From the newspaper reports, it appears that certain terms and conditions of the company were violated inasmuch as Tata Tele Services about 12 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ct Act, 1872. 6. Mr. Maheshwari would submit that the Supreme Court in Balco Employees Union v. Union of India [2001] 8 SCALE 541 had not taken into consideration the nature of the Executive Order for transferring the assets of BALCO as the same had not been disputed by the parties before the Supreme Court, whereas the same has been done in the instant case. According to Mr. Maheshwari, having regard to the dicta of the Apex Court in Reference By the President of India under article 143(1) of the Constitution of India on the implementation of Indo-Pakistan Agreement relating to Berubari Union and Exchange of Enclaves AIR 1960 SC 845 wherein it has been held that the Preamble to the Constitution provides for the key to the minds of the framers of the Constitution where the words are found to be vague or their meaning is unclear. For the said purpose, the petitioner had also referred to L.C. Golak Nath v. State of Punjab AIR 1967 SC 1643 and His Holiness Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru v. State of Kerala AIR 1973 SC 1461. 7. The petitioner had also filed an application for amendment of the writ petition, inter alia, praying for insertion of the following ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ances made only when the facts are placed before this Court to show that valuable constitutional and statutory rights have been violated. We fail to understand as to on what premise the transaction in question is sought to be challenged under articles 298 and 299 of the Constitution may be invoked by a party, who claims an interest in the transaction in question, but only on that basis a public interest litigation would not be maintainable. We have also not been able to appreciate as to how the provisions of doctrine of unjust enrichment are attracted in a case of this nature. 10. The country since 1991 has adopted a liberal economic policy. Liberalisation to some may be opposed to social and economic justice, but by reason thereof only a public interest litigation cannot be entertained nor an enquiry in absence of some concrete facts can be directed. The liberalisation process today is the result of the Indian Government s consent to adhere to an IMF stabilisation . When it approached the IMF in the late 1980 s on the brink of an economic crisis, India, for a loan agreed to such a program, which cut expenditure and imports and adopted a longer term SAP (Structural Adjustmen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Union of India [2000] 2 SCC 689 upheld the entrustment of municipal work to private companies. 15. In Balco Employees Union s case ( supra ), the Apex Court observed : "78. While PIL initially was invoked mostly in cases connected with the relief to the people and the weaker sections of the society and in areas where there was violation of human rights under Article 21, but with the passage of time, petitions have been entertained in other spheres. Prof. S.B. Sathe has summarized the extent of the jurisdiction which has now been exercised in following words : PIL may, therefore, be described as satisfying one or more of the following parameters. These are not exclusive but merely descriptive : uWhere the concerns underlying a petition are not individualist but are shared widely by a large number of people (bonded labour, undertrial prisoners, prison inmates). uWhere the affected persons belong to the disadvantaged sections of society (women, children, bonded labour, unorganized labour, etc.). uWhere judicial law making is necessary to avoid exploitation (inter-country adoption, the education of the children of the prostitutes). uWhere judicial intervention is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... able to approach the Court. 89. The decision to disinvest and the implementation thereof is purely an administrative decision relating to the economic policy of the State and challenge to the same at the instance of a busy-body cannot fall within the parameters of Public Interest Litigation." As regards power of judicial review, the Apex Court, in no uncertain terms, held that this Court should not exercise its power of judicial review to interfere with the economic policies of the State. The Apex Court further noticed that the assets including shares can be sold in a number of ways, i.e., in public auction, by tender(s), by sealed offer(s), or by negotiation. As regards transparency, it was held : "67. It was contended by the learned Advocate General that the whole process lacked transparency. We are not able to appreciate this contention. The disinvestment of BALCO commenced with the recommendation by the Disinvestment Committee in its second Report suggesting that the Government may disinvest BALCO. It is by global advertisement that the global Adviser and the strategic partner was chosen. At every stage, the matter was looked into by the IMG and ultimately by the C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f Chattisgarh such allegations against the Union of India have been made without any basis. We strongly deprecate such unfounded averments, which have been made by an officer of the said State. ****** 98. In the case of a policy decision on economic matters, the Courts, should be very circumspect in conducting any enquiry or investigation and must be most reluctant to impugn the judgment of the experts who may have arrived at a conclusion unless the Court is satisfied that there is illegality in the decision itself." 16. In the instant case, the petitioner has not made any research himself. Moreover, the allegations made in the present public interest litigation are vague and based on some newspaper reports. The opinion of some authors may relate to their own opinion, which may be different from others. What happened after the agreement was entered into is not a matter for this Court to consider in this public interest litigation. The basic question, which was required to be gone into, was whether the disinvestments policy of the Central Government was a valid one. 17. Mr. Maheshwari referred to the provisions of section 4 of the Telegraph Act, 1885, which reads thus ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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