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| SC starts fresh hearing on Ambani gas row |
| Press Trust of India / New Delhi Nov 05, 2009, 20:11 IST |
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The hearing in the gas dispute between the Ambani brothers today commenced afresh in the Supreme Court after a change of judge and the two sides indulged in a verbal battle with the one side accusing the other of deviating from its earlier stand.
Reliance Industries (RIL) counsel Harish Salve, who began the arguments before a newly-constituted Bench after the recusal of Justice R V Raveendran, faced a sudden interruption in the post-lunch session when senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL), charged the Mukesh Ambani firm RIL with making arguments contrary to the ones put forth before the Bombay High Court.
Jethmalani sought the permission of the Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices B Sudershan Reddy, who replaces Raveendran, and P Sathasivam to make submissions for 30 minutes everyday to counter RIL arguments by saying Salve was advancing the stand contrary to what the Mukesh Ambani firm had taken in the High Court.
"I should be allowed 10 to 30 minutes at the end of the day to make arguments as the other side has argued exactly to the contrary before the High Court," Jethmalani said.
However, his interruption was strongly objected to by Salve who said the RNRL advocate was not correct in his accusation and should stop making interruptions.
Salve's counter further infuriated Jethmalani who said, "I am interrupting by taking the leave (permission) of the court."
The, Bench, however, did not concede to Jethmalani's request saying it has to hear the arguments by giving a chance to all parties.
Jethmalani, who had earlied accused the government of being "hand in glove" with the Mukesh Ambani firm, said "RIL has got a new colloboration with the government".
This was objected to by the Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran.
Salve said he was not "agreeable" to such an interruption. "I will not be agreeable to such a plea. I want to make detailed arguments without interruption as it is an imporatant case in public gaze."
The Ambani brothers are locked in a high-voltage battle over the supply and price of the gas from Krishna Godavari basin.
RNRL is seeking gas from RIL at rates 44 per cent lower than government-approved price. RIL says it cannot honour the commitment made in the 2005 family agreement due to government's pricing and gas policies.
RNRL counsel said for the last few days arguments have been made by RIL and he wants to counter them and save the time of the court.
Earlier, Salve opened the arguments afresh before the Bench in which Justice Reddy was inducted in place of Justice Raveendran, saying he was cutting short his arguments and providing synopsis and a snap shot of the case.
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