Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday struck down the privatization deal of the Pakistan Steel Mills and referred the matter to the Council of Common Interests. It also directed the federal government to make the CII functional within six weeks to finalize policy issues.

The court ruled “We hold that the establishment and working of the Council of Common Interest is a cornerstone of the federal structure for the protection of the rights of the federating units. This important institution is not functioning at present. We direct the federal government to do the needful expeditiously but not later than six weeks.” However, the court ruled that the Privatization Commission Ordinance 2000 was not unconstitutional.

There are views and more views on the fate of PSMC, privatization process as such and business environment in Pakistan and now it is left to CCI to decide the course of action, which could be a fresh and more scientific valuation of assets and inviting a fresh bid for privatization or sale of shares in stock exchange or a combination.