The ministry of oil and petroleum natural gas on Wednesday said the two Ambani brothers could not have entered into a private agreement to trade gas because it was against government’s gas utilisation policy.
It told a bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan that supply of gas to
Anil Ambani’s Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL), in accordance with the Ambani family business reorganisation pact, would render the government’s investment worth Rs 75,000 as “idle investment.”
“The private arrangement envisages distribution of natural gas amongst these two parties for present and future reserves in the KG basin as well as new discoveries in perpetuity, denying the use of this vital resource to the public at large,” said Additional Solicitor General Vivek Tankha on behalf of the ministry.
Earlier, additional solicitor general Mohan Parasaran argued government had the exclusive rights over all minerals underlying the ocean and in the country's territorial waters. “RIL cannot sell gas as it pleases,” he said, adding: “Gas also cannot be reserved for any particular party in fixed quantities and tenure.”