JOIN USHC to rule on Subramanian Swamy's plea against disinvestment process of Air India on January 6
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday reserved its order on a plea filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy against the disinvestment process of national carrier Air India.
The plea alleged that the methodology adopted by the government in the valuation of Air India was "arbitrary, illegal and against public interest".
The petitioner asked the court to set aside and revoke any action or decision or grant of any further approvals, permissions or permits by authorities with respect to the Air India disinvestment process.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh heard the arguments put forward by Swamy, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Harish Salve, who appeared in the matter on behalf of AirAsia. The court said it will pass an order on the petition on January 6.
In his plea, Swamy also sought a CBI investigation into the role and functioning of authorities and the submission of a detailed report before the court.
In October last year, the Centre accepted the highest bid made by a Tata Sons company for 100 % equity shares of Air India and Air India Express, along with the government's 50% stake in ground-handling company AISATS -- the first privatisation in the country in 20 years.
Swamy submitted that a consortium led by SpiceJet was the other bidder but as insolvency proceedings are going on against the airline in the Madras High Court, it was not entitled to bid and therefore, effectively there was only one bidder.
The Solicitor General, however, contended that the petition was founded on misconceptions and was not required to be considered.
He said SpiceJet was never a part of the consortium that submitted the bid.
"One individual, Ajay Singh, was part of the consortium, which was the second bidder and not SpiceJet," he said.
He also said Air India's disinvestment was a policy decision, in view of huge losses being incurred by the airline, and that the government was competent to go ahead with it.
With regard to Talace Private Limited, a Tata Sons subsidiary that won the bid for acquiring Air India, he said neither the firm nor the Tata group has any criminal proceedings pending against it and it has nothing to do with the AirAsia group.
Salve also contended that there was nothing in the petition and that the bids were complete, the share agreements signed and all this has been in public domain for quite some time.
He said the airline business is tough to manage and there are very large transactions, adding that if a person comes at this stage and keeps things pending with a writ petition, no one will invest in it.
The government signed the share purchase agreement with Tata Sons on October 25 last year for the sale of Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. The Tatas would pay Rs 2,700 crore in cash and take over Rs 13,500 crore of the airline's debt.
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