A Bench of the Supreme Court on Friday recused itself from taking up a plea demanding that the Government approval for the Cairn Energy-Vedanta Resources deal be declared invalid.

The Bench comprising Justices Mr C.K. Prasad and Mr H.L. Dattu did not give reasons for the recusal. The matter is likely to be heard by a new Bench after the Holi vacation, sources said.

THE PIL

The Public Interest Litigation (PIL), filed by a lawyer Mr Arun Kumar Agrawal, had also sought the court's directions to order a CBI probe into the manner in which the Government has cleared the deal.

The petition highlights “how the (Union) Government has allowed transfer of oil resources of the country worth lakhs of crores of rupees to a private company by giving up its own legal rights in complete violation of the public trust doctrine.”

The Government's decision that conferred “huge benefit to certain foreign private companies suffer from lack of fairness, transparency and accountability,” it said, adding that, therefore, it is liable to set aside.

The petitioner also asked the court to direct the CBI to investigate the reasons for ONGC and Government not asserting and exercising their legal rights under the Right of First Refusal as well as giving clearance to the deal on the basis of the existing right to share the royalty and cess on a pro rata basis.

The petitioner claimed that the loss to ONGC/nation on non acquisition of shares is around Rs 1 lakh crore.

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