Environmental activist Vandana Shiva today withdrew her PIL from the Delhi High Court filed against Bharti Walmart Private Limited and Bharti Retail Limited for alleged violation of FDI policy in retail sector.
“I am withdrawing the petition,” the counsel for Shiva told a bench headed by Chief Justice D Murugesan. The court allowed the plea.
Earlier, the counsel for Shiva and Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Rajeeve Mehra had said the PIL against the private joint venture firms have been rendered infructious in the wake of new central policy on FDI in retail sector.
The ASG had told the bench, also comprising Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, that in the changed scenario, when the FDI in retail has been allowed, the petition loses its relevance.
Earlier, the court had issued notices to the Centre, Bharti Walmart Private Limited and Bharti Retail Limited on the plea seeking a probe against the firms for allegedly carrying out retail trading in multi-brand sector in violation of India’s existing FDI policy.
The PIL had alleged Bharti Walmart was illegally carrying out multi-brand retail trade despite being permitted only to carry out wholesale cash-and-carry trade here.
Cash and carry is a form of trade in which goods are sold from a wholesale warehouse and customers settle the invoice on the spot.
The PIL also alleged that many established Indian firms are acting as “front” for foreign firms to give their offshore partners a “majority control and economic interest” in retail sector here.
Walmart entered in a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises in 2007 for carrying out cash and carry wholesale trade in India.
