In a new twist in the gas row between the Ambani brothers in the Supreme Court, the Anil Ambani-led RNRL on Thursday sought cross-examination of Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, accusing the Government of siding with the Mukesh Ambani's group RIL.
"I want both the Petroleum Minister and
his Secretary to be cross-examined," RNRL's counsel Ram Jethmalani said before a Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan.
He made the plea when Government and RIL opposed RNRL's October 19 letter seeking certain documents from the Ministry of Power relating to gas supply and pricing.
Jethmalani claimed that the documents sought from the Government would establish that there was no clause for government approval on the pricing of gas to be supplied from the KG Basin.
"Government is bound to produce these documents," he said adding these related to the minutes of the meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) held on August 28, 2007. The documents referred to the presentation made by the Petroleum Ministry to the EGOM on August 27, 2007.
RNRL said it presumed that the presentation was on the basis of documents prepared by joint secretary in which four issues on gas utilization policy including marketing freedom to the contractor and government's power to put in place pricing policy were raised for consideration.
However, RNRL's plea was opposed by the Government and RIL which said that the Anil Ambani Group cannot rely on these documents.