Jogi now puts a price to his ongoing Balco farce

Jogi now puts a price to his ongoing Balco farce
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, MARCH 12: Chattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi raised the pitch of the Balco controversy by offering to pay Rs 552 crore if his state government was allowed to take over a 51 per cent share in Balco from Sterlite Industries. The offer, which works out to Rs 50 lakhs more than what Sterlite paid to the Centre, was promptly rejected by Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie who said: ‘‘Even the Supreme Court hasn’t taken notice...it was a passing reference. The Government doesn’t react to frivolities.’’

The ‘‘passing reference’’ came before the Supreme Court through the Chhattisgarh government’s counsel, Kapil Sibal. But Attorney General Soli Sorabjee dismissed the offer saying only some time back the state had made a valuation of Rs 1,500 crore.

Sibal said the Centre was resorting to litigation on behalf of a private party and that the deal did not appear to be a transparent one. Sorabjee responded by observing that ‘‘all these things are nice to be said outside the court’’ and challenged the state government to make the allegations on oath so that the consequences could follow.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court today vacated the interim orders it had passed earlier against the Chhattisgarh government in the context of the strike at Balco.This followed Sibal’s plea that the Court’s interim orders of March 7 had caused ‘‘damage’’ to the reputation of the new state. The interim orders passed on an urgent application of the Centre during the Holi break from the residence of a judge had provoked a federal controversy in Parliament.

Sorabjee countered Sibal by saying those interim orders were ‘‘perfectly justified’’ and so ‘‘what reasonable objections could any reasonable person have to them.’’Sibal finally got his way after he said that the state has already complied with the Court’s orders and given an undertaking that it would continue to provide water and electricity to the Balco plant, security to its workers and the new management headed by Sterlite Industries and maintain law and order in and around the plant.A bench, comprising Justice B N Kirpal and Justice Ruma Pal, said ‘‘it is no longer necessary to continue with the March 7 order.’’

But, significantly, the court has kept in force the bar on the state from taking any final decision on the question of reclaiming the land allotted to Balco for the plant and mines way back in the sixties.

Apart from this restriction, the state has been allowed to proceed with the notice it issued to the Centre to show cause why the Balco land, located in the Scheduled Areas meant for tribals, should not be taken back in the wake of the disinvestment. The grounds on which the notice was issued is that a Supreme Court judgment of 1997 and the Madhya Pradesh land revenue code (which applies to Chhattisgarh) forbid transfer of any land in the Scheduled Areas to a non-tribal.

According to the Chhattisgarh Government, the sale of 51 per cent shares in Balco to a private company, Sterlite Industries, amounts to transfer of a Scheduled Area land from the Centre to a non-tribal.

The bench today said ‘‘it is very unfortunate that the Centre and state governments were fighting against each other on such an issue.’’

Sibal informed the court that the state government has constituted a high-powered committee, comprising the Chief Secretary, Director General of Police and Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence), to monitor the law and order situation.

He also claimed that ‘‘the state government has always ensured and will ensure that the law and order situation will be maintained and ingress and egress of willing workers are permitted.’’

The urgent application moved by the Centre on March 7 had alleged that the state was encouraging the striking workers to aggravate the situation and that several workers and managers trapped inside the plant were denied food, water and electricity.

The Balco Employees Union assured the Court through its counsel, Rajeev Dhavan, that it would allow all willing workers to get back to work.

The Court asked the state government to file its response to the Centre’s petition seeking transfer of three PILs related to the disinvestment controversy from the high courts of Delhi and Chhattisgarh. The case has been adjourned to April 9.

The interim orders of March 7 restrained the Chhattisgarh government from disrupting supply of water, electricity and food to the Balco plant at Korba or the township while directing it to provide adequate security to workers and new management.