Divestment body members quit

Even before the Left parties could rake up the controversy over disinvestment, members of Disinvestment Commission, including its chairman RH Patil, tendered their resignations en masse to Arun Shourie, before he demited office as disinvestment minister.

Patil, along with four other part-time members, sent in their resignations to Shourie after the election results were announced, official sources said.

The resignations of TL Shankar, NV Iyer, VV Desai and KRS Murthy, still reported to be pending with government, were sent in to enable the new government a free hand to reconstitute the Commission.

The Commission has virtually become defunct with only the member-secretary remaining.

Disinvestment Commission was reconstituted in 2001 after remaining dormant for two years, initially for a two-year period, and was given a year's extension till October 2004.

The Commission, first set up in 1996-97, was a creation of the United Front government under the chairmanship of GV Ramakrishna.

The Left-supported UPA government has demanded the scrapping of the Disinvestment Ministry and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to keep the portofolio vacant though no final decision has been taken on its future.

The new government has decided to abandon nda style privatisation policies but prime minister manmohan singh last week committed his government to allowing case by case privatisation where needed.