Raising concerns about alleged lack of transparency in the deal, the Gujarat high court asked the state government to file affidavit as to what corrective steps it is ready to take in an alleged scam involving sale of its stake in GSPC Pipavav Power Company Limited to a private company Swan Energy Limited.
The court has also asked the government counsel to reconsider the state’s decision and think over issuing a tender in connection with the project located on Pipavav coast in Gujarat.
The court is hearing a PIL filed by the Leader of Opposition in Gujarat, Shaktisinh Gohil, alleging a large scale scandal in government’s decision to sell of GSPC Pipavav Power Company Limited’s 49 per cent stake, 70 percent Certified Emissions Reductions and carbon credit to least known entity Swan Energy limited.
The petition alleged that government had undervalued its own shares and thus caused losses of over `2,000 crores to the state exchequer. The petitioner has prayed the court to set aside the state’s decision and declare it in violation of established procedure of disposal of public property through inviting bids.
As per the terms of agreement among Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Limited, Gujarat Power Corporation Limited and Swan Energy Limited, the first two after sale of shares to Swan Energy would have shareholding of 51 per cent and the latter would have 49 per cent shareholding, the petitioner pointed out.
Mr Gohil claimed in the petition that Swan Energy had agreed to pay `381 crores as value of shares for it’s stake and in turn GSPC and its shareholders agreed to assign 70 per cent of CERs to be generated from the project to it.
While hearing the case on Thursday, a division bench comprising Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya and Justice V.M. Sahai sought to know as to from where did the proposal for sale to Swan Energy originate from. The court noted that either there was a missing link in the transaction or there was something fishy about the transaction.