The government on Saturday filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court reasserting its ownership on the gas produced by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd in the Krishna Godavari basin fields.
The move comes ahead of a hearing — scheduled for Monday — on the gas dispute between the Ambani siblings in the apex court.
Seeking the court’s direction to declare the private family agreement of the Ambanis over distribution of gas as “null and void”, the petroleum ministry stated in its petition that the brothers “by way of privately negotiated settlement have used the natural gas as a private property”.
The brothers had on June 18, 2005, entered into a private MoU, where the gas produced by Mukesh’s RIL would be shared between Anil Ambani’s RNRL, state-owned NTPC and for captive use of RIL.
“This is against all canons of law as the ownership of natural gas vests with the government and the private MoU cannot affect the sovereign rights of the union of India,” the government petition said.
In a related development, Anil-owned RNRL filed a second affidavit in the SC on Saturday stating that the government does not have any right to file pleas in the ongoing gas dispute.
{{/usCountry}}In a related development, Anil-owned RNRL filed a second affidavit in the SC on Saturday stating that the government does not have any right to file pleas in the ongoing gas dispute.
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