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P. Manoj

NEW DELHI, Jan. 29

THE Disinvestment Commission headed by Dr R.H. Patil will prioritise the public sector units to be processed for study and recommend strategies for disinvestment to the Government to initiate action.

This is a departure from the earlier system wherein public enterprises identified for disinvestment were referred by the Union Government to the Commission for recommending a plan.

"Henceforth, we will not be referring individual companies to the commission for its recommendation. The commission will have the powers to prioritise cases for study from among the large number of PSUs which are to be taken up for disinvestment in accordance with the Government policy,'' Government sources said.

The move is aimed at bypassing opposition from some individual Ministries and departments which continue to adopt a "non-cooperative approach'' to the Government's disinvestment exercise.

Despite repeated requests, these Ministries and departments have ducked the responsibility of naming enterprises to be referred to the commission on a priority basis.

"They have been trying to soft-pedal the process by arguing that some of the entities under their belt are either too small or are doing financially well to be referred to the commission for its recommendation,'' the sources said.

While prioritising cases for processing in lots of 10 or 15, the commission will be guided by the directives issued by the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD).

The CCD had decided that the commission should first process those cases where disinvestment would lead to large revenues for the Government.

The second preference would be given to those units in which disinvestment can be carried out with minimum impediments in a relatively short notice.

Third, CCD had decided that the commission should take up cases in which continued bleeding of the Government resources could be stopped swiftly.

While approving these norms, the CCD had also stated that all non-strategic cases, except Indian Oil Corporation, Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), could be processed by the Commission for recommending a suitable action plan.

BIFR companies will also be kept outside the purview of the commission since a reference at this stage would delay the privatisation plans started in many of these cases. "Our objective is to expedite privatisation, and not delay it '', the sources said.

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