SC junks Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's plea for probe into Metro Dairy stake sale by Bengal govt

New Delhi [India], September 16 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury challenging a Calcutta High Court order which had rejected his plea seeking a probe into the West Bengal government's sale of its 47 per cent stake in Metro Dairy Limited.
A bench of Justices MR Shah and Krishna Murari dismissed the plea saying it was a "prudent decision".
"They took the right decision... in the share market, it happens as the prices go up on a day and come down on another day. Auctioning is a prudent decision. We are of the opinion that the procedure adopted was the correct and transparent one," the court said.
On June 13, the Calcutta High Court had dismissed the plea by Chowdhury, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, asking to investigate the stake sale. The High Court dismissed the PIL holding the stake sale as neither illegal nor arbitrary.
Chowdhury had alleged the State government sold its stake in Metro Dairy at a very low price, without following a transparent process and without justifiable reason.
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 stake in Metro Dairy, Keventer Agro at 43 per cent, while the rest 10 per cent was with the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
The High Court was informed that the NDDB sold its stake to ICICI Bank, which was then acquired by Keventer Agro and by acquiring the State government's share, Keventer owned a 100 per cent stake in Metro Dairy.
The petitioner had stated that 47 per cent shares of Metro Dairy were sold to Keventer Agro for Rs 85.5 crore, following which the company sold 15 per cent shares to Mandala Swede SPV for a whopping Rs 170 crore. (ANI)