SC Agrees to Hear Reliance Industries Limited Proposal for Settlement in Gas Dispute
Top court says it would welcome a negotiated resolution after the Centre agreed to examine RIL’s fresh conciliation request over the $2.81 billion demand linked to the ONGC block case.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday postponed hearings in the long-running KG Basin gas dispute after Reliance Industries Limited sought a fresh attempt at resolving the matter through conciliation with the Centre.
A bench led by the Chief Justice of India agreed to defer the four-day hearing scheduled in the case after Attorney General R Venkataramani informed the court that the government was open to considering RIL’s new request for bilateral settlement talks.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for RIL, urged the court to allow both sides time to explore a negotiated resolution. The bench observed that it would be “most happy” if the dispute could be settled amicably and said the appeal could be disposed of if an agreement is reached.
The dispute relates to the Centre’s demand of $2.81 billion from RIL over alleged migration of natural gas from an ONGC-operated block in the Krishna-Godavari Basin.
The matter is now likely to be taken up in the third week of July. Last week, the apex court had declined RIL’s request to defer the hearing, while the Attorney General had then pressed for continuation of proceedings on the company’s appeal against the Delhi High Court judgment.
