The main legal point established in the judgment is the court's discretion in granting interim relief, the need for further consideration of constitutional issues, and the tagging of the present proceedings with a pending reference before a larger Bench.

ORDER

1. This batch of three cases consists of a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution and two Special Leave Petitions arising from a final judgment of the Madras High Court and an ad - interim order of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay.

2. The petition under Article 32 raises a challenge to the constitutional validity of the provisions of Sections 130, 131, 134 and 140 of the Finance Act 2021 and certain provisions of the Life Insurance Corporation Act 1956. By the provisions of Finance Act 2021, an amendment was brought about to the provisions of the Life Insurance Act 1956.

3. On 13 February 2022, a draft Red Herring Prospectus¹[ "RHP"] was filed with SEBI for the Initial Public Offering²[ "IPO"] of LIC. Consequential steps were taken. On 26 April 2022, the RHP was made available on SEBI's website, indicating a price band of Rs 902 to 949 per equity share with a discount of Rs 60 for policy holders. On 27 April 2022, a price band advertisement was published. The Government announced that LIC's IPO will be opened on 2 May 2022 for 'anchor investors' and from 4 May 2022 to 9 May 2022 for the general public. The window for bidding for anchor investors was opened on 2 May 2022. The window for bidding by other investors opened on 4 May 2022. The IPO has been closed for bidding on 9 May 2022. The offer price for the IPO is to be finalized on 12 May 2022. This would be followed by the allotment to investors whose bids have been accepted. The monies which have been received from the investors are being held in ASBA³["Application Supported by Blocked Amount"] accounts. The monies would be released on 13 May 2022 to unsuccessful investors. The equity shares would be credited to the demat account of successful bidders on 16 May 2022. From 17 May 2022, the shares of LIC will be traded on the stock exchanges where they would be listed.

4. In support of the challenge, two primary submissions have been urged by Ms Indira Jaising, senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners in the petition under Article 32 of the Constitution. Firstly, it has been urged that the process which led up to the enactment of the amendment to the Life Insurance Corporation Act through Parliament was on the basis that it was a Money Bill. On this aspect, it has been submitted that the constitutional issue relating to the passage of Money Bills has been referred to a larger Bench in Roger Mathew vs. South Indian Bank Limited and Others, (2020) 6 SCC 1. The second submission which has been urged is on the merits of the challenge. The submission is that as a result of the amendment to Section 28 of the Life Insurance Corporation Act 1956, the character of LIC which is in the nature of a mutual benefit society is sought to be converted to a joint stock company. This, according to the submission, amounts to an expropriation of the surplus from participating policy holders and its distribution to the share holders to whom shares would be allotted as a result of the IPO.

5. Ms Jaising submitted that hitherto, 95% of the surplus typically went to participating share holders while 5% was retained by the Central Government. This entitlement of the participating share holders, it has been urged, would be altered as a result of the amendment which has been brought about by the Finance Act 2021 to the provisions of the Life Insurance Corporation Act 1956 and would violate the provisions of Article 300A of the Constitution.

6. Ms Jaising has submitted that though the IPO has closed on 9 May 2022, an interim order is necessary in order to obviate further complications. Senior counsel submitted that the Court may either direct that the monies which have been placed in the ASBA accounts should be retained in those accounts during the pendency of these proceedings or, alternately, if the Court is not inclined to grant this relief, the rights of investors should