Moily removed DGH to favour RIL: Dasgupta

Dasgupta called it a 'sinister ploy' in a letter to Manmohan Singh

Further raising the pitch of his allegations against petroleum minister M Veerappa Moily, Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta has said Moily removed directorate general of hydrocarbons (DGH) R N Choubey to favour Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL).

According to reports, Choubey, a 1981 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, was removed due to “technicalities” in his appointment. When Moily’s predecessor S Jaipal Reddy hand-picked him in 2012, no selection panel was in place and hence, the posting happened without any advertisement.

DGH’s removal is a ‘sinister ploy’, Dasgupta said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “The present incumbent was appointed in June 2012 for a tenure of three years. The plan currently underway to transfer him prematurely is a sinister ploy by the petroleum minister, who is acting at the behest of RIL in the matter.” According to him, the reason for the removal of the official is due to the independent views that Choubey had taken in matters related to relinquishment of RIL blocks and arbitration against the company.

Dasgupta alleged that by stalling the relinquishment of an area having 1,150 billion cubic feet of gas, Moily is trying to provide a windfall profit worth Rs 60,000 crore to RIL. He said the DGH proposed relinquishment of eight discoveries of 6,601 sq km at the KG-D6 block.

RIL’s executive director P M S Prasad had earlier written to the petroleum secretary stating that the regulator had gauged the viability of these blocks based on the old price of $4.2 a million British thermal unit (mBtu).