Not Favouring Mukesh

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[The oil ministry has informed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh it was not favouring Mukesh Ambani in his ongoing tussle with younger brother Anil and it had moved Supreme Court only to protect its rights on natural gas. Responding to queries raised by the Prime Minister's Office on the basis of a letter to Singh from Anil Ambani, the petroleum ministry said in a communication that it has not shown any favouritism to Mukesh-led Reliance Industries (RIL). Lawyers had advised that the only way out was to go to Supreme Court to protect sovereign rights on gas, given the the Bombay High Court judgement that gave effect to the Ambani brothers' agreement on gas, the petroleum ministry reply said. Anil had written to the Prime Minister on July 15 seeking direction to the oil ministry to stop favouring Reliance Industries in a commercial dispute between his RNRL and RIL. The oil ministry has filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court challenging the High Court ruling of June 15 that asked RIL to supply gas to Anil group firm RNRL at a committed price of $2.34 per mmBtu and work out a suitable agreement for it. The government's SLP will be considered for admissibility by the apex court on September one, the same day when the cross-appeals by the group firms of the two brothers is to come up for hearing. The letter explained in detail how government rights were affected because of the final order of Bombay High Court, which gave effect to the MoU. In the interim order of the High Court, the government's rights were upheld, but in the final order they impacted the government policy on gas utilisation, the oil ministry's communication said. It also said that various ministries as also Andhra Pradesh, the landfall point of gas from KG-D6 basin, had written to the petroleum ministry seeking protection of rights on gas. The PMO had late last month asked the petroleum ministry for comments on issues raised by Anil in a letter, wherein the industrialist urged Singh to direct the ministry to &quot;cease from overtly and covertly attempting to intervene in our commercial dispute with RIL&quot;. &quot;We have recently seen a spate of unfortunate public utterances with unusual frequency, by various functionaries in the Petroleum Ministry... in a manner not witnessed in any other part of the government that too on a matter that is sub-judice in the Supreme Court,&quot; Anil's letter said. (PTI)