The courts have ruled that Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) gas has to be sold to Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL) at a price of $2.34 per mmBtu — in other words, the court has rejected the ministry of petroleum’s decision that the contract between RIL and RNRL was not an arms-length one. Whatever the contract between RIL and RNRL may say, the fact is that the gas belongs to the government and RIL is just a contractor. So the government has to have a say in deciding gas prices. If it has no role, the contractor can sell gas to anyone and at any price, and not in keeping with the national priorities for use of this precious resource.
Sanjay Tripathi, Mumbai
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