New Delhi: In a new twist in the gas row between the Ambani brothers in the Supreme Court, the Anil Ambani-led RNRL on Thursday sought cross-examination of Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, accusing the government of siding with the Mukesh Ambani's group RIL.
"I want both the Petroleum Minister and his Secretary to be cross-examined," RNRL's counsel Ram Jethmalani said before a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan.
He made the plea when government and RIL opposed RNRL's October 19 letter seeking certain documents from the Ministry of Power relating to gas supply and pricing.
Jethmalani claimed that the documents sought from the
government would establish that there was no clause for
government approval on the pricing of gas to be supplied from
the KG Basin.
"Government is bound to produce these documents," he
said adding these related to the minutes of the meeting of the
Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) held on August 28, 2007.
The documents referred to the presentation made by the
Petroleum Ministry to the EGOM on August 27, 2007.
RNRL said it presumed that the presentation was on the basis of documents prepared by joint secretary in which four issues on gas utilization policy including marketing freedom to the contractor and government's power to put in place pricing policy were raised for consideration.
However, RNRL's plea was opposed by the government and RIL which said that the Anil Ambani Group cannot rely on these documents.
Additional Solictor General Mohan Parasaran said the
documents cannot be provided as RNRL has addressed the
letter to the Ministry of Power and in the dispute here it was
the Petroleum Ministry which filed the Special Leave Petition
against the Bombay High Court decision asking RIL to supply
gas at the rate of USD 2.34 per unit.
Further, the ASG said the documents contains the
Cabinet notes for the EGOM.
However, his submission evoked sharp reaction from the
Bench, also comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and P
Sathasivam, which said "Union of India is one. Both the
Ministry of Petroleum and the Power ministry are part of the
government".
At this point, Jethmalani said "this shows that there
is a conflict between the two ministries".
"That is why we want to cross-examine the Petroleum
Minister and his Secretary," he said.
Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for RIL,
opposed RNRL's plea.
RNRL also accused the government of adopting delaying
tactics for not filing the affidavit on its stand on the NTPC
issue relating to the supply of gas to the PSU at USD 2.34 per
unit.
Refuting the charge, Parasaran said the affidavit will
be filed shortly. RNRL says it is entitled to the supply of
gas at the same price fixed for NTPC.
The Ambani brothers are engaged in a legal battle over
the supply and price of the gas from KG basin.
While RNRL is seeking gas at a committed price of USD
2.34 per unit, RIL says it cannot honour the commitment made
in the family agreement due to government's pricing and gas
policy.
RNRL accused Mukesh Ambani of causing breach
of trust at the January 12, 2006 board meeting of RIL in which
the Gas Supply Master Agreement (GSMA) and Gas Sale and
Purchase Agreement were approved.
"The transactions of January 12 are breach of trust
with the intention to cause loss to the beneficiary, ie Anil
Ambani," Jethmalani said.
RNRL alleged that the Board Meeting of RIL held on
January 11 and 12 for arriving at a suitable arrangement for
the supply of gas was "illegal and fraudulent" as Anil Ambani
was not in control of the resultant companies emerging from
the demerger scheme which evolved from the Family MoU of 2005.
Jethamalani said the RIL board produced an "obnoxious"
GSMA and approved it when only one Director from RNRL side was
present while the other two Directors were for the RIL.
"They (RIL) quietly introduced in GSMA that government
will approve the gas price", he said contending that it was
done as RIL knew that it was bound by the MoU.
"Now it knows that the Ministry of Petroleum would
relieve it of this obligation," the senior advocate, who has
accused the Ministry of Petroleum of colluding with Mukesh
Ambani, said.
He said the MoU which provided that the Anil Ambani
Group would get the gas on the same terms as supplied to the
NTPC by the RIL spoke about the price in figure and not on the
basis of any complex formula as presented by the RIL.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, November 26, 2009, 20:56