Calcutta, March 7 :    Calcutta, March 7:  The Centre's effort to sell a major stake in Jessop suffered a big setback today after Calcutta High Court directed the authorities to keep the disinvestment on hold till the final judgment. The Joint Forum of Unions and Associations of Jessop had moved the high court challenging the decision of the Union government to privatise the company. The Centre has decided to sell 70 per cent of its stake to Calcutta-based Ruia Cotex for Rs 18 crore. Giving the verdict, Justice Ashok Ganguly directed the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction - a body to which sick units are referred for revival - not to give effect to the proposed disinvestment of Jessop till the judgment is delivered once the case comes up for final hearing after four weeks. The judge directed the respondents to file affidavits stating their stand in this regard within two weeks. S. Pal, counsel for the petitioners, alleged that the move to sell a majority stake in Jessop was not only arbitrary but also unconstitutional. 'The Centre has taken the decision unilaterally and is trying to sell it to a private party, violating all norms. Neither was any advertisement published nor any tender floated to get offers from private parties,' the petition said. A. Malhotra, appearing for Jessop, informed the court that the Centre had already referred the company to BIFR. Giving Balco's example, she said the Supreme Court had ruled that the management had every right to sell any stake it wanted without informing employees. This, she argued, also applied to Jessop. Kalyan Banerjee, who appeared on behalf of the Union government, argued that the petitioner had no locus standi to file the case before Calcutta High Court as the decision had been taken by the Centre. The petitioner, he said, could have taken it up with the Supreme Court. 'We are determined to prevent the Centre from selling the important PSU to a private party and for this we shall apply all our strength. First, the Union government has taken the decision unilaterally, and second, the price that has been fixed is very low. We smell something wrong in the deal,' said Citu leader Ajit Chowdhury. Jessop employee representatives yesterday met chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and told him that they were ready to run the company by forming a co-operative. They urged him to write to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee again to review the Centre's decision to disinvest in the company. Though Bhattacharjee and industry minister Nirupam Sen wrote to Vajpayee and heavy industries minister Manohar Joshi, urging them to reconsider their decision, Writers' Buildings has yet to receive any response.