A 9 member bench of the Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday struck down the privatization deal of the Pakistan Steel Mills. The court in a unanimous verdict cancelled the government’s ‘Letter of Acceptance’ and ‘Share Purchase Agreement’ with the successful bidders 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 bench said in its ruling that the privatization process had been "vitiated by legal violations by state functionaries, including acts of omissions and commissions". It said that the government was giving "extra benefits to the successful bidders". It said that the transaction had caused the government a loss of Rs 18 billion. The government had also accepted an Rs 15 billion liability to pay workers under the Golden Handshake Scheme.

The verdict said "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."