May 30, 2006	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 2, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, May 29: The Pakistan Steel Labour Union on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking constitution of a commission to probe into and recover losses the nation suffered in the privatisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills.

In a petition moved on behalf of Mohammad Zafar Khan, general secretary PSM Labour Union under apex court’s original jurisdiction on fundamental rights, the petitioner requested the court to implead the union as a party in the hearing against privatisation of the PSM.

Led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, a nine-member larger bench comprising Justice Rana Bhagwandas, Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad, Justice Hamid Ali Mirza and Justice Karamat Nazir Bhandari will resume hearing on Tuesday on a challenge against privatisation of the biggest industrial concern on a throw away prices. Barrister Zafarullah of the Watan Party and the Pakistan Steel Peoples Worker Union have questioned the sale of the mills.

Drafted by Advocate Hashmat Habib, the petitioner also pleaded to allow Employees Management Group to match the highest bid of Rs21.68 billion.

The federal government through the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation, Secretaries Ministry of Industries and Production, Privatisation Commission (PC), Chairman PSM, of Sindh, Consortium of Magnittogorsk Irion and Steel Works, Al Tuwairqi Group, Arif Habib Group and the Council of Common Interest (CCI) are respondents in the petition.

He has also challenged the Privatisation Commission Ordinance (No. LII) of 2000 for being in direct conflict with the provisions of the constitution.

Instead of allowing PSM’s Board of Director (BoD) to function and made the mills a profit generating unit, he contended, PC kept PSM on fast track process for its privatisation without any justification and in utter disregard to an earlier decision of BoD.

In 2004 as well as in 2005, PSM’s BoD had rejected proposals to offer 25 per cent shares of the mills for initial public offering (IPO) because from 2005 PSM was giving a revenue of Rs34 billion, of which Rs18 billion was being paid to the government, while there was a clean annual profit of Rs7 billion.

During the entire privatisation process, neither the Sindh province was consulted nor any guidelines or policies were provided by CCI as required under Articles 153 and 154 of the constitution, petitioner deplored. Even Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz failed to constitute CCI in this regard.