RIL-RNRL row: Anil Ambani accuses Oil Ministry of bias

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At the annual general meeting of Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL), which is engaged in a bitter legal tussle with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) over the KG basin gas, Chairman Anil Ambani accused the latter of 'dishonourable conduct' and questioned the Oil Ministry's motives in taking a stand in what he said was a corporate issue.

In the legal deadlock, RNRL has laid claim to gas produced from the KG basin at a price of USD 2.34 per unit - as was decided in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the parties during the Reliance de-merger in 2005 - instead of the government-decided price of USD 4.2 per unit at which it is sold to others. The Bombay High Court recently ruled in RNRL's favour, after which RIL approached the Supreme Court and was joined by the government as an aggrieved party.

The younger Ambani used the occasion to launch a dramatic verbal attack on RIL and said it was seeking to make exorbitant profits at the cost of fertiliser and power companies.

"Despite binding commercial agreement, RIL has tried every trick to fall out of its contractual obligation," Ambani said, much to a high-charged 'Hum tumhare saath hain' response from shareholders at the meet.

The Bombay HC verdict vindicated RNRL's stand and was body blow to RIL, Ambani said, adding that in the last five weeks, there were motivated and misleading reports in the last five weeks. "I'm really sorry to say that the Oil Ministry is deliberately twisting facts."

The government's stand in the case has been that gas produced from KG basin was the nation's property and that the gas row is not purely corporate issue but a sovereign issue.

"The sovereign ownership issue is a bogey to bail out RIL," Ambani said, adding, "We are not claiming ownership of gas under production sharing contract. We are claiming rights only on RIL's share of gas. Our claim is also in the consistence stance of the government on the floor of Parliament in the past three years."

Even as Ambani said he was surprised by the Petroleum Ministry's 'suddenly-escalated' role in the RIL-RNRL case, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora had a swift but curt response: "We can't comment on Anil Ambani's scathing accusations as the matter is sub-judice."

The RIL counsel, Harish Salve, on his part, said, ""It's time that the basic discipline of not drawing matters pending in Court into public debate is followed. Enough has been said about the case for public information. Now I feel it is best left to Court. RNRL's counsel has promised to prove in 15 minutes that the government is in Mukesh's pocket - let's leave it to the Court to decide this."