By IANS,
New Delhi : The government will speak in one voice on the Krishna-Godavari gas row, Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily said after the ministerial panel set up to coordinate the government’s position on the issue met for the second consecutive day late Thursday night. A statement is expected to be issued Friday.
The high-level panel, consisting of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Moily, met for over one and a half hours late Thursday evening.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had formed the panel to coordinate the government’s legal stand over two overlapping disputes – supply of gas by Mukesh Ambani-headed Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL), being heard in the Supreme Court, and between Reliance Industries and state-run power utility NTPC Limited, which is being adjudicated in the Bombay High Court.
After coming out of the meeting, Moily said that the government will speak on “one voice” on the issue.
He added that the government will issue a statement on the gas row Friday.
Answering a query on the parallel row between RIL and NTPC, Moily said that the state power producer was free to take its own stand on its legal case.
There had been speculation that NTPC would file a special leave petition before the Supreme Court.
Moily asserted that the “final decision” in the RIL-NTPC case will be made in the courts.
Interestingly, the panel meeting was also attended by the NTPC chairman R.S. Sharma and Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam. The latter had recommended earlier that NTPC should move the Supreme Court.
The next meeting of the ministerial panel will take place Aug 24.
In June, the Bombay High Court asked Reliance Industries to supply 28 million units of gas from the KG fields to Reliance Natural Resources for 17 years at $2.34 per unit.
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. The court also asked all parties to file their replies on the government position on the matter by then.
The petroleum ministry has filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court with the plea that Krishna-Godavari gas was national property.