Reports of my quitting incorrect: Parasaran to OilMin

Mohan Parasaran, the government's counsel in the Ambani brothers gas dispute, has said that he had never threatened to withdraw from the case on the issue of inclusion of more lawyers in the team.

Additional Solicitor General Parasaran, last week, wrote to Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey saying he had never threatened to withdraw from the case or resign as ASG on talks on including more lawyers in the government team, official sources said.

The government had in consultation with Parasaran last month expanded its legal team by including ASG Vivek Tankha.

"I wish to unequivocally state that the statement that I threatened to withdraw from the case or resign from my office as ASG is not correct and is denied," Parasaran wrote on November 7.

Parasaran and Tankha are likely to present the government's views on the dispute in the Supreme Court tomorrow.

The government has filed a special leave petition in the apex court seeking to become a party to the dispute between RIL and RNRL over supply of gas as per a family agreement of 2005 and has contended that national resources cannot be appropriated through private family arrangements and it alone holds the right to approve rates and decide on customers keeping national priorities in mind.