Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva directed the Centre to arrive at a decision by January 6, 2017, with regard to Cairn's request for extending till 2030, the PSC that the company and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have with the government, and listed the matter for hearing on January 9, 2017.
The court, however, made it clear that the decision has to be taken without linking it with the policy being contemplated by the government regarding PSCs with other companies which too are up for extension.
Observing that each PSC was different and they cannot be clubbed together, the judge asked the government to take a decision in terms of the court's December 14, 2015 order, as per which ONGC had six weeks to decide whether the contract needed to be extended and within three months after that the Centre was to have taken a decision.
ONGC had communicated its approval for extension of PSC on July 28 this year after which the Centre had assured the court it would positively take a decision by October 14.
The court refused to grant time saying if the government has not framed a policy since 2009 when Cairn had sought extension till date, "it won't happen in three months".
Cairn, represented by senior advocate C A Sundaram, opposed the Centre's plea saying it had sought extension of PSC back in 2009 and it was 2016 now and delay in a decision was preventing it from infusing further investment to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore and more in the project.
Cairn has in its plea said that when none of the state-
It claimed that the government has earned around Rs 80,000 crore from commercial production out of the area.
In its plea, Cairn has said that estimated recoverable assets in the block are approx 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, of which 466 million barrels are expected to be recovered beyond current PSC period until 2030.
Currently, it is producing natural gas from the block and supplying it to government companies.