New Delhi, July 30 (Inditop.com) The Supreme Court Thursday said it will fix on Sep 1 the date of final hearing on the dispute over the supply of natural gas between Anil Ambani-led Reliance Natural Resources and his elder brother’s Reliance Industries.
A bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan communicated this when the counsel for Reliance Natural Resources moved a petition seeking early settlement of the dispute. The court said it will hear Sep 1 all the petitions, including one from the government as an intervener on the matter.
Last month, the Bombay High Court had asked Reliance Industries to supply 28 million units of gas from Krishna-Godavari basin to Reliance Natural Resources for 17 years at $2.34 per unit, after assigning 12 million units to the state-run power utility NTPC.
But Reliance Industries challenged the verdict in the Supreme Court, which heard the case July 20 and fixed Sep 1 as the next date of hearing. It also asked all parties to file their replies on the government position on the matter by then.
Wednesday had seen the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, adjourn more than once when some members, led by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, asked for Petroleum Minister Murli Deora’s resignation over the matter.
Their main contention was that the petroleum ministry was unable to ensure gas supplies from the Reliance gas fields to the crucial Dadri power project in Uttar Pradesh on the outskirts of the national capital.
