Divestment Commission Constituted

The notification has named G V Ramakrishna as the commission's full-time chairman, who will be assisted by four part-time members, who have already been named by the government in the official announcement. Besides, the notification provides for a full-time member secretary who will be named later.

The terms of reference of the commission match the public announcements made by the Centre. Government sources, however, said the core group is scheduled to meet on Monday to transfer its powers to recommend the list of PSUs in which the disinvestment process will take place to the commission. The transfer of powers would be effected from the third tranche onwards, industry ministry sources said.

This will provide the commission with the powers to consider, select and recommend the PSUs in which the Centre should divest shares. The notification also provides for the commission to suggest marginal capital restructuring for the PSUs under consideration. The notification is silent on who will decide on the pricing. The government announ-cement a fortnight ago had discussed at length the role of the global advisers who would assist the commission on deciding on the timing, size and price of the issue.

he global adviser would be appointed by the Centre.

The notification states that the commission will be advisory in nature and that the government reserves the right to overrule its recommendations. Besides, it also speaks of a primary and secondary disinvestment, which is a fairly new concept in terms of PSU disinvestment.