The Petroleum Ministry is expected to amend its petition in Supreme Court against the Ambani brothers on gas supplies from KG-D6 fields and possibly remove the prayer for declaring the family Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) null and void.
The amended petition would seek to challenge the part of the MoU that pertains to gas supply and delink Production Sharing Contract between the government and Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) from family settlement, sources in the know said.
A view towards these changes in the petition emerged during a meeting called by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee with Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Law Ministry Veerappa Moily and officials yesterday.
Accordingly, an exercise has started to remove "technicalities" pertaining to the family split agreement, sources said. The Special Leave Petition filed on July 18 had sought to declare that part of the MoU which deals with government rights null and void.
Sources said Mukherjee and Moily felt the SPL was needed as the the division of gas between the two brothers was "unfair" to the government and public interest.
However, they wanted the reference to the whole family MoU deleted and prayer restricted to annexing the gas division between the two. As per the MoU, Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) is to get 28 million standard cubic meters per day of gas (mmscmd) from KG-D6 at $2.34 per mmBtu, a price 44 per cent lower than government fixed rates. The rest of the volumes from KG-D6 and other RIL fields (after giving 12 mmscmd to NTPC), is to be split between the Mukesh and Anil in 60:40 ratio.
Sources said Petroleum Ministry escalated its stand in the Supreme Court after the Bombay High Court made the MoU effective, upsetting the government's gas utilisation plan that gives fertilizer and power firms first priority on KG-D6 gas.
The family MoU that split the Dhirubhai Ambani empire between brothers Mukesh and Anil is still not a public document and the government was concerned with only the division of gas between the two, as had been brought out in the Mumbai High Court judgement.
"There are two opinions on this but the law officers are working on this and a finality will emerge soon," a Law Ministry source said.
