SC to hear Dasgupta's RIL plea on March 4

He alleged that government doubled the natural gas price solely to benefit Reliance Industries

The Supreme Court  on Monday fixed March 4 to give a final hearing to the petitions of Communist Party of India (Marxist) parliamentarian, Gurudas Dasgupta and the Common Cause organisation, challenging the purported decision of the government to double the natural gas price solely to benefit Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).

When the petitioners expressed anxiety, pointing out that the cabinet has taken a decision over the price and a notification might be issued at any time, Chief Justice P Sathasivam said that it would be subject to the court order. Prashant Bhushan, for Common Cause, told the court that though it had issued notice to the government three months ago, it has not filed any response in this matter.

He said that if the issue was not decided early, there would be a big outflow in the next few years.

Dasgupta has asked the court to order initiation of termination proceedings against RIL for extraction of natural gas from the KG basin. He has also questioned the credentials of the members of the Rangarajan Committee, which had supported the new formula for fixing the price that would effectively double the price to $ 8.4 per mmBtu.