The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the government to privatise Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL).
Hearing the OGDCL case, the apex court in an interim order directed that OGDCL shares be sold out to companies with higher bids. Notices in this regard have also been issued to the concerned parties by the court and the hearing of the case has been adjourned for three weeks.
In a concise statement submitted before the Supreme Court on Saturday, the federal government said if the privatisation of 10 per cent shares of the OGDCL was not completed, Pakistan would be exposed to ‘great financial loss’.
The government requested the top court to dismiss the petition of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government against the privatisation of OGDCL. “It would be an irretrievable loss which would affect future prospects of foreign investments,” said the statement by Additional Attorney General Waqar Rana.
The federal government has alleged that the K-P government is attempting to create the impression of a national economic crisis which simply doesn’t exist.
Since the PHC passed the restraining order, the value of OGDCL’s share has depreciated by about Rs 20, it added. “If this uncertainty continues, there is great likelihood that the share value will further depreciate. The loss already suffered on this account runs into 100s of millions of rupees.”
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