HC dismisses Adhir's petition seeking probe into Metro Dairy stake sale

The Calcutta High Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, seeking an investigation into the sale of 47 per cent stake in Metro Dairy Ltd by the West Bengal government.

A division bench, presided by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava, dismissed the public interest litigation (PIL), holding that the stake sale was neither illegal nor arbitrary.

The bench, also comprising Justice R Bharadwaj, held that the state had not adopted non-transparent or opaque measures for the sale of shares to Keventer Agro, and as such no case is made out for interference in the petition.

In his PIL, Chowdhury alleged that the state government sold its stake in Metro Dairy at a very low price, without following a transparent process and sans any justifiable reason.

He had appealed for the appointment of a high-powered committee, headed by a sitting judge of the high court, to investigate the sale.

The state government had offered to sell its equity in Metro Dairy in May 2017 for a base price of Rs 85.43 crore, and Keventer Agro offered Rs 85.5 crore for buying it.

The West Bengal government held 47 per cent in Metro Diary, while Keventer Agro held 43 per cent stake and the rest 10 per cent was held by National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).

NDDB sold its stake to ICICI Bank, which was then acquired by Keventer Agro, the court was informed.

By acquiring the state government's share, Keventer owned 100 per cent stake in Metro Dairy.

Chowdhury's lawyer submitted that 47 per cent shares of Metro Dairy were sold to Keventer Agro for Rs 85.5 crores, following which the company sold 15 per cent shares to Mandala Swede SPV at Rs 170 crores.

The counsel appearing for Keventer Agro submitted that Mandala Swede had bought shares in Keventer Agro, which has various business activities, including the dairy business, and not in Metro Dairy Ltd.

The two deals have no connection, he said.

The counsel appearing for Mandala Swede SPV submitted that it is not a necessary party in the matter and the allegation is misconceived.

The court held that the state's decision of disinvestment in Metro Dairy is essentially a policy decision based upon economic and other considerations.

''Such a policy decision is not open to interference unless the same is unconstitutional, violative of statutory provision, totally arbitrary or suffers from the vice of malice,'' the court said.

Observing that it does not lie within the domain of the courts to consider the relative merits of different economic policies, the bench said that in the present case, nothing has been pointed out to show that the decision of the state to sell 47 per cent shares of Metro Dairy runs counter to any statutory provision or is illegal in any manner.