Sibal, Shourie spar over VSNL disinvestment

New Delhi, Mar 22 (PTI) A fresh controversy raged on
Tuesday over Telecom Minister of India Kapil Sibal ordering a
probe into the disinvestment of erstwhile VSNL during NDA
regime in favour of Tatas but the then telecom minister Arun
Shourie hit back calling Sibal a "bully".
"It has come to my notice that the disinvestment of
Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) in 2002 does not seem to
be fair and transparent.
"Prima facie the way issue of demerger of 773.13 acres
of surplus land of VSNL was handled in 2002 and thereafter,
not only the interests of investors but also the interests of
the government seems to have been adversely affected," Sibal
said in a note to Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar.
The official was asked to constitute a high level
committee under Additional Secretary S R Rao to examine the
issue in detail and to submit its report by this month end.
Sibal expressed concern over the "inordinate delay" in
the hiving off/demerger of the government's surplus land being
"enjoyed" by Tatas without paying a single rupee.
Accusing Sibal of providing perverted facts, Shourie
said the government was already sinking under a cascade of
corruption allegations and the minister was only adding to its
problems.
"If you see it is the bull-headedness of a bully,"
Shourie said dismissing allegations of any wrongdoing and was
prepared for any probe into the disinvestment of VSNL.
He said if there was any delay in the demerger of the
land and if a probe has to be ordered it should be against P
Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee, the past and present Finance
Ministers in the UPA government in past seven years.
Shourie defended the disinvestment saying stringent
conditions were laid down that prohibited the sale of surplus
land by winning bidders.
Sibal replied that Shourie was welcome to call him any
names saying that is his previllage.
He said when the disinvestment took place in 2002 why
was this 773 acres of land was part of the deal at all.
However, Shourie maintained that Tatas did not acquire
any land and they did not acquire any right over that land.

"There are such stringent clauses that the person who
wins the bid on VSNL, we have provided, shall not have any
right on the land at all," Shourie said.
He added that transfer or sale of the land cannot be
done without a special resolution.
"Shareholders agreements and and those clauses are
right here. It prohibits the winning bidder, in this case the
Tatas, to do anything with the land," he said.
Tata Group company Panatone Finvest Ltd had
acquired a controlling stake in Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd
(VSNL) on February 13, 2002, for Rs 1,439 crore as part of the
disinvestment programme of the then NDA government.
However, at the time of disinvestment, surplus land
of 773.13 acres was separated from the disinvestment bids and
was to be disposed of as per the Share Holding Agreement (SHA)
and Share Purchase Agreement (SPA).
Questioning the role of the UPA government, Shourie
said, "The Tatas said they have been writing to the government
and the government has not been able to make up its mind, that
is for this government to answer. What has it been doing for
six years?"
The UPA government has invited bids to hire
consultants to ascertain the value of the 773.13 acres of VSNL
surplus land across the country and also initiate the process
to sell it.
Tata Communications in a statement said, "We welcome
any government process that hopefully will expedite the
demerger of surplus land, which we have repeatedly requested
in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.
"We categorically deny that Tata Communications or
the Tata Group has benefited or seeks to derive benefit from
the surplus land," it added.