Anil Ambani group seeks to join NTPC-Reliance Industries row

14 Sep 2009

NEW DELHI: The Anil Ambani group Monday moved the Supreme Court, seeking to intervene in the dispute between state-run power utility NTPC and the Reliance Industries' KG-D6 facility

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries over natural gas supplies from the Krishna-Godavari basin.

The petition said both Reliance Natural Resources of the Anil Ambani group and NTPC have common issues in their disputes with Reliance Industries over supplies of natural gas from the said fields at $2.34 per unit for a period of 17 years.

"It is submitted that the issues that arise in the case filed by NTPC in this honourable court directly affect Reliance Natural Resources' case against Reliance Industries," the application said.

"It is just as necessary that Reliance Natural Resources is permitted to be impleaded as a party in the present case."

The application said Reliance Industries was making one pretext or the other to wriggle out of its commitment to both NTPC and Reliance Natural Resources in the supply of natural gas.

"Reliance Industries is abusing the process of law to frustrate the lawful commitments to both NTPC and Reliance Natural Resources."

The petition also sought to highlight the observations made in the government's petition that quoted the law minister as having told a ministerial panel that the two cases being fought against Reliance Industries were different.

"We have to keep these cases beyond the scope of our deliberations and take a decision in general on New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) pricing issue," the government application had said, quoting from the minutes of the ministerial panel meeting.

The application by Reliance Natural Resources to the apex court Monday came a day after it accused the Mukesh Ambani-led company of charging an "illegal and unauthorised" marketing margin on sale of gas from the Krishna-Godvari basin.

The company said this would lead to a loss of Rs.10,000 crore to the government.

"The so-called marketing margin is nothing but a device illegally adopted by Reliance Industries to charge a higher sale price, without even paying the lawful share of such revenues to the government.