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Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday asked the government to clarify the price at which gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin block would be sold. The court asked for clarity in the matter with respect to a long-pending dispute between Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) and Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) over the supply of gas to the latter. The government is acting as a third party for speedy progress of the case.
The divisional bench of Justice J N Patel and KK Tated asked the government to specify the price at which state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation will be buying gas from RIL, as the RIL-RNRL gas sales purchase agreement is based on the RIL-NTPC gas sales purchase agreement. It may be noted that earlier, the court had stayed the sale of gas owing to the ongoing legal tussle between RIL and RNRL. Government counsel Mohan Parasaran said, "The government wants nothing but the vacation of the stay on the supply of gas."
At this point, Justice Tated said that government can file a submission regarding the price and supply of gas and take its share of the gas a following a modification of the injunction. Meanwhile, RIL and RNRL can resolve their dispute.
Parasaran, in this context, noted, "The government, through an empowered group of ministers (EGOM), has approved a benchmark price of $4.2 per mmbtu for sale of gas from RIL's KG basin fields." The court also asked the government to fix the price at which gas will be sold to all PSUs and its nominees, in order to modify the injunction. If the injunction is not modified, PSUs and government nominees will not be able to buy gas, as all transactions with PSUs and nominees will be regarded as third party sales. The government can, however, use gas from the basin in railways or the defence sector. A written submission will be filed by the government counsel on Tuesday, stating that the government has the sole right to fix the price and determine supply of gas (as per the Gas Utilisation Policy).
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