The disinvestment ministry has appealed to the division bench of the Kolkata High Court challenging the judgement of March 2003 regarding the disinvestment process in Jessop & Company. The hearing has been scheduled for June 17.
In March 2003, a single-member bench of the Kolkata High Court had granted a stay order for four weeks on the disinvestment process.
It had asked the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) to re-consider disinvestment of the company. Jessop & Co was referred to the BIFR in 1995.
The judgement raised questions about the process of disinvestment and valuation adopted for Jessop & Co.
Government sources said that the ministry of disinvestment had taken strong exception to the judgement as the disinvestment process followed for Jessop & Company was in accordance with government policy.
The Jessop disinvestment issue had been referred to the Kolkata High Court in February 2002 as the employees of the company had filed a petition against the divestment of the company.
The objection was that the company belonged to a strategic industry and hence should not be divested.
Interestingly, the March 2003 judgement also turned down the employees
