Pranab meets Deora, Moily on gas tangle

Amid a bitter public wrangling between the oil ministry and industrialist Anil Ambani on the gas dispute, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today held a meeting with petroleum and law ministers.

Neither Petroleum Minister Murli Deora nor Law Minister Veerappa Moily was willing to comment on the course of the 70-minute-long discussion that incidentally was held after Anil Ambani accused the oil ministry of colluding with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), which, he alleged, wanted to make a super profit of Rs 50,000 crore.

Petroleum ministry, on the other hand, said national assets could not be appropriated through a private family deal.

It is understood that the meeting, where Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran and petroleum and law secretaries were also present, dealt with developments relating to the oil ministry’s petition in Supreme Court seeking annulment of a gas supply deal between Mukesh Ambani-led RIL and Anil’s group company RNRL based on a family settlement.

Sources said the participants were unanimous that the oil ministry’s petition was the right move.

The meeting was held against the backdrop of a continuing legal battle between the two Ambani brothers over the supply of gas at $2.34 mBtu, a price questioned by the oil ministry.

It is also understood to have been decided at the meeting that the government’s view would be expressed only at the Supreme Court during the course of hearing on the petition, admissibility of which would be considered by the apex court on September 1.

Earlier in the day, Government Counsel Mohan Parasaran, after a meeting with Pandey, said: “(The) government is not partisan. We have been seeking to protect public interest. “We can’t be answering questions he (Anil Ambani) raises. He is a private individual. He is free to make whatever comments he likes. (The) government has its own limitations.”