JUDGMENT

K. S. RADHAKRISHNAN, J.

1. Petitioner, through this Public Interest Litigation, has challenged the approval granted by the Government of India dated 24.1.2012 for the acquisition of majority stake in Cairn India Limited (CIL) for US $8.48 billion and also for a direction to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India (ONGC) to exercise its right of pre-emption over sale of shares of CIL on the same terms without causing any loss or profit to the Cairn Energy, and also for a direction to CBI to investigate the reasons for ONGC, a Government of India Undertaking, in not exercising their legal rights under the Right of First Refusal (RoFR) and giving clearance to the CAIRN – Vedanta Deal on the basis of the existing right to share the royalty and cess on pro-rata basis and also for the consequential reliefs.

FACTS

2. Government of India had, earlier, retained the exclusive privilege for mining of hydrocarbons, which was carried out on nomination basis through the statutory corporations like ONGC. The need for maximising domestic exploration of production of oil led to the Governme