Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, May 12: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to suspend the Life Insurance Corporation of India’s initial public offering (IPO) proceedings (LIC). This means there will be no intervention in the current share allotment procedure.
The Supreme Court, on the other hand, consented to hear the challenge to the government’s share dilution and petitions against LIC’s IPO.
The Supreme Court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to give temporary relief. The top court ordered the Centre or LIC to respond to the matter within eight weeks, and the petitioners to respond four weeks thereafter. The issue before the Constitutional Bench will be associated with these proceedings.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and PS Narasimha made the verdict while hearing a batch of petitions filed in the Supreme Court challenging the LIC’s IPO.
The petitioners questioned the government’s validity in using a Money bill to enact the decision to launch the LIC’s IPO. The central government’s Additional Solicitor General stated that this is one of the largest initial public offerings in India’s history. There were almost 73 lakh applicants, and 22.13 crore shares were sold at a premium of Rs 939 per share.
Meanwhile, prominent counsel Shyam Divan argued on behalf of the petitioners that the legitimacy of the government’s choice to offer the LIC IPO through a Money bill must be considered. He believes it could not have been enacted as a money law because it involves public rights.
