New Delhi, August 26: Amid the high-pitched gas battle between the group firms of Mukesh Ambani and his younger brother Anil, Law Minister Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said the private parties should take up the issue only in the Supreme Court and the government would only protect its rights.
“… they (Ambani brothers) need to fight within the presence of the Supreme Court, not outside. This is my small advice to everybody concerned,” Moily said in a TV interview.
I think that those private parties who are fighting, let them fight their case better in the Supreme Court. When it comes to encroachment in the process of their fight, if it encroaches the rights of the government, I think the government will have to defend also,” the minister added.
Anil Ambani Group company RNRL is fighting a legal battle for obtaining gas at $2.34 per mmBtu from Mukesh-led RIL as part of the family agreement. The case is coming up for hearing in the Supreme Court on September 1.
The government has filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court saying the gas is a national asset and no private contractor (RIL) has the right to decide the pricing and its allocation.
State-run NTPC is also seeking gas at the contracted price of USD 2.34 per mmBtu from RIL. But Moily said there is no conflict of interest and government is one on the issue.
“… there is no conflicting interest …when you speak to the court, the government, whatever the wings they belong to, they have to speak in one voice,” the minister said, adding, “So, there is no problem within the government.
—PTI