HC disposes ONGC's plea against RIL on gas siphoning

Delhi High Court on Thursday disposed of ONGC's petition accusing Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) of deliberately disgorging natural gas worth Rs 30,000 crore from the PSU's well in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin, by asking the Centre to take a decision once it gets the report of an expert panel set up to examine the issue.

Justice R S Endlaw directed the government to take a decision within six months of receiving the report and said if no action, as required, is taken, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) can revive its petition as the PSU had raised the apprehension that if the report was in its favour no action will be taken against RIL.

The court also gave liberty to an activist lawyer and a former bureaucrat, who have intervened in the matter, to approach it if no action was taken by the government after receiving the report. The direction was given after ONGC said the government has recently issued a circular prohibiting PSUs from moving courts against the Centre and if its plea was disposed of it may not be able to come to court again.

The court, however, clarified that its direction will not dilute the government's circular. It also directed all the parties involved in the matter to cooperate with the independent agency, US-based DeGolyer and MacNaughton. During the brief hearing, RIL contended that since ONGC's plea for appointing an expert independent panel to examine its claim has been addressed and the petition can be disposed of. It said the true picture can be ascertained only after the receipt of the panel's report which was expected to come by October 8, and thus there was no need to keep the petition pending till then.

The government, on its part, told the court that it has acted as and when necessary and there was no basis for any apprehensions as raised by ONGC.