Not privy to final SLP: ASG Parasaran

New Delhi, July 27 (PTI) Indian government's counsel Mohan
Parasaran has said he was left out of the details of a special
leave petition filed by Petroleum Ministry in Supreme Court
seeking annulment of a family MoU between Mukesh and Anil
Ambani group firms on gas supply.

"I found that broadly the SLP was acceptable, but was of
the view that we should confine ourselves to the grievances as
an aggrieved party arising out of the judgement of the Bombay
High Court.

"Even the challenge to the MoU could only be in so far as
the gas sale agreement and not to the other matters... the SLP
in its final shape was not seen by me," he said in a
communication to the Law Ministry, presumably as a response to
queries generated on the contents of the petition.

When contacted, Parasaran, Additional Solicitor General,
declined to comment on the communication and the issues raised
therein.

It may be recalled that Anil Ambani had on July 15 written
a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alleging that the
Petroleum Ministry was playing a partisan role and was siding
with Mukesh Ambani group firm RIL in a commercial dispute with
his group firm RNRL.

The Prime Minister's Office had subsequently forwarded the
letter to the Oil Ministry for comments. The same was also
believed to have been forwarded to the Law Ministry.

Parasaran, however, clarified in the communication that
as ASG he was not expected to supervise filing of cases nor
give any instruction on behalf of the government to file cases
or pleadings before the Supreme Court.

The Bombay High Court on June 15 had ordered RIL to
supply gas to RNRL at USD 2.34 per mmBtu for a 17-year period
and asked the two sides to work out a suitable agreement
within a month, before the expiry of which the two sides moved
the Supreme Court with cross-appeals.

The government, which was sought to be made an intervener
by RIL, had first filed an affidavit on July 17. But the very
next day, it moved a special leave petition seeking to declare
the Ambani brothers' MoU as null and void, while asserting its
ownership on natural resources.

It argued that the High Court ruling undermines the

government's gas utilisation policy and the provisions of the
Production Sharing Contract and wanted the order to be stayed
in the interim.
Parasaran said it was in light of the High Court ruling

that he had advised the ministry, as an aggrieved party, to
file the SLP challenging the judgement. PTI IB
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