Govt says Ambanis apportioning public property

The two-month-long arguments in the legal dispute on gas supply between RIL and RNRL ended today, with the central government’s counsel firing salvoes at both the warring Ambani brothers for apportioning shares in public property.

Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam told the bench, headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, that both parties in appeals against the Bombay High Court judgment were presenting charts with respect to cost, price and other details, “while it was the government which has to worry about all that”.

“The issues involved were not between two parties. Gas from the Krishna-Godavari (K-G) basin was a natural resource belonging to the government. As the custodian of public interest, the government has asked the empowered group of ministers to fix an equitable price and it was doing so with the help of experts. The price of gas and other vital matters cannot be the subject of the fight between two persons,” counsel said.

Earlier, RIL counsel Harish Salve closed his argument, asserting that selling gas at $2.34 (the rate demanded by RNRL and underlined by the Bombay high court) would result in huge losses to the company. RNRL counsel Mukul Rohtagi countered this. The court allowed both main contending parties to file further written arguments next week. There was no indication of the date of judgment.

Both companies had appealed against the Bombay High Court judgement delivered six months ago, which affected their individual interests. While RNRL is seeking gas at a committed price of $2.34 per unit, RIL says it cannot honour the commitment made in the 2005 family agreement due to the government’s later pricing and gas policy.

The government joined the arguments, saying it needed to protect public property and the public interest, which the Ambanis weren’t doing.