The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Attorney General and the Solicitor General to help solve a conundrum raised in a petition related to foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail sector. One of the several questions raised by a Supreme Court lawyer, M L Sharma, in the petition is if any rules and regulations can be framed affecting a law without Parliament’s approval.
The bench headed by Justice R M Lodha has asked the senior law officers of the government to be present at next week’s hearing to give clarity. According to regulation 5 of Regulations 2000, some sectors are strictly prohibited from FDI, such as retail trading (except singlebrand product retailing) and atomic energy.