New Delhi, Feb. 27 :    New Delhi, Feb. 27:  Non government organisations are jumping into the fight over the privatisation of Balco, an issue that has fast become a test of the Centre's will to privatise the public sector. The Centre for Civil Society (CCS), an NGO patronised by reforms salesmen - mostly economists - is going to court to pre-empt public interest litigation cases that it suspects will be initiated by trade unions and environment groups. CCS contends that the privatisation of public sector units is in the 'first order public interest' as it is the only way to reform these companies. The cases challenging privatisation are of parochial private interests, said its president, Parth J. Shah, an economist and former professor at the University of Michigan, US. The CCS litigation will not confine itself to Balco but to privatisation as a whole. 'It is in the larger public interest to privatise public sector units as fast as possible. For instance, if the government had taken a strategic partner for VSNL two years ago, it would have got 10 times the price that the VSNL scrip today commands. Thus the government has lost out on revenue that is crucial for development expenditure,' said Shah. Though the CCS claims it has no interest in Balco, its case has the support of industry and the apex chambers of commerce. If its case is upheld, it will strengthen the argument for privatisation and threaten to take the wind out of the sails of the opposition. A court order against public interest litigations filed by the Balco Employees' Union will mean that any opposition to any of the proposed privatisation measures will be devoid of legal sanction. The CCS argues that delay in privatisation will mean the public sector units that are ripe for the picking will have to be sold cheap. Balco's profitability, too, has been going down over the years. In 1995-96, it earned a profit after tax of Rs 106 crore. In 1999-2000, that was down to Rs 55.89 crore. In 2000-2001 it is reported to be slipping to around Rs 25 crore. If the arguments of the CCS echo those of the chambers and pro-reforms economists, it is no surprise. The centre is packed with laissez faire scholars. Its chairman is Kanwal Rekhi of IndUS. Among its patrons are Isher Judge Ahluwalia of the Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relations, Jagdish Bhagwati (Columbia University), Surjit S. Bhalla, Kirit Parikh, Bibek Debroy (Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies), Vinay Bharat Ram (DCM Industries) and Siddharth Sriram (Siel Industries).