Javed Iqbal, the senior judge of
Pakistan's Supreme Court (SC) has said that the privatization of state-owned strategic enterprises is against universal law and only non-strategic consumer units should be given to private investors in response to a petition challenging
Pakistan Steel Mills' (PSM) privatization.
The judge also commented that although SC do not have legislative powers, it has the mandate to examine whether privatization policies were inline with the national interests and based on honest principles, and the rules and regulations were followed throughout the privatization process. As an example, he cited a case of
Erdemir privatization, which was stopped on the court intervention.
Barrister Zafarullah Khan, the counsel representing of the winning consortium, said that all regulations regarding PSM privatization were followed and that the successful bidder was given various concessions, which were neither mentioned in the terms of reference nor in the seeking expansion of interests.
On the other hand, the legal council for the PSM Employees Union, presented to the court that the constitutional provisions and rules were violated during PSM privatization and the transaction from its very start was hostile to the workers of the enterprise.
The court will continue its hearing on the issue today.