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| Settle gas dispute on Sept 1, Anil to tell SC |
| BS Reporters / New Delhi Jul 30, 2009, 00:18 IST |
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 The Lok Sabha was adjourned three times even as Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) and the government swung into action a day after the younger Ambani made a dramatic and emotional speech publicly accusing the petroleum ministry of bias towards older brother Mukesh Ambani Reliance Industries (RIL).
Speaking to reporters on a conference call from Mumbai today, Anil Ambani said RNRL would approach the Supreme Court on Thursday, seeking a final hearing on the two-year-old dispute over gas pricing and supply on September 1.
“RNRL would like an early resolution of the matter expeditiously,” said Anil Ambani, who also met key ministers and senior government officials in Delhi. Sources said Telecom Minister A Raja was among those that Ambani met.
The apex court on July 20 had posted the matter for hearing on September 1 by three judges who are yet to be appointed.
Both RIL and RNRL have filed cross-appeals in the Supreme Court on a Bombay High Court judgement in June that upheld a 2005 family agreement, which split the group’s assets between the two brothers, on the basis of which the gas price was fixed.
A petition by the petroleum ministry to stay the high court order on gas supply at $2.34 per unit is scheduled for hearing the same day.
Meanwhile, Press Trust of India reports that the petroleum ministry is expected to amend its petition in the Supreme Court and possibly remove the prayer for declaring the family agreement null and void.
The amended petition will seek to challenge only that part of the agreement that pertains to gas supply and delink the production-sharing contract between the government and RIL from the family settlement, sources in the know said.
A view on these changes in the petition emerged at a meeting called by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee with Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Law Ministry Veerappa Moily and officials late yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha was adjourned three times today after members of the Samajwadi Party (SP), whose leaders are perceived to be close to Anil Ambani, demanded Deora’s resignation for his role in the dispute.
“This is being done for the benefit of one individual...We have nothing to do with Anil Ambani,” SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav said. The Dadri power project in UP, for which RNRL is seeking KG basin gas, was approved under Yadav’s chief ministership.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal said the government would reply to the issue on Monday.
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