In a major blow to rebel BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, the Delhi High Court has rejected his plea against the proposed disinvestment of Air India by the govt of India. Reportedly, a bench of Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh of the Delhi High Court dismissed his plea where he had challenged the sale of Air India to the Tata group alleging irregularities in the process.
Breaking: Delhi High Court DISMISSED Subramanian Swamy’s plea challenging disinvestment of Air India.@Swamy39 #AirIndia
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) January 6, 2022
Confirming the development, Subramanian Swamy tweeted that he will consider moving Supreme Court against the High Court order after the same is uploaded by the court. At present the Delhi HC informed about the dismissal of the petition orally and the detailed order is being uploaded on the high court website soon.
The Delhi HC dismisses my WP on Air India. But reasoned Order is being uploaded. After reading that we shall decide on going to SC
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) January 6, 2022
After hearing all the concerned parties, the High Court had reserved the order in the case on January 4th. Petitioner Subramaniam Swamy had alleged in the plea that the bid process for disinvestment in the debt-ridden national carrier was arbitrary, corrupt, malafide, unconstitutional and against the public interest. He had also alleged that the entire process was rigged in favour of Tata Sons.
The Rajya Sabha MP had sought to revoke all actions and decisions related to the Air India disinvestment process. He had also sought CBI investigation into the role and functioning of authorities in the process, saying that a detailed probe report should be submitted to the court.
However, he had clarified that he is not against disinvestment, but only against the process used in the process under which Tata Sons was selected as the winning bidder. “I am in the favour of disinvestment. I have always believed in the idea of the open market,” he had told High Court.
According to Swamy, the other bidder in the process, SpiceJet, was actually not eligible to bid as an insolvency process for the airline is ongoing in Madras HC, and therefore Tata was the only bidder, and the bidding can’t take place in such a situation.
However, the centre had opposed the plea, saying that disinvestment is a policy decision. Appearing for Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had said that Air India is in continuous losses, and the govt can’t afford more losses. Tata Sons had also opposed the plea, saying the winning bidder is a 100% Indian company.
In October last year, Talace Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Pvt Ltd, was selected as the winning bidder to acquire loss-making Air India. The EV quote by Talace was Rs 18,000 crores, which includes debt of Rs 15,300 crores and a cash component of 2700 crores.
