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NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday opposed repeated requests by Reliance Industries Ltd to adjourn hearing on alleged pilferage of gas from ONGC block in KG Basin to explore conciliation between the two sides, reports Dhananjay Mahapatra. RIL has challenged Union govt’s demand of $2.8bn for the alleged pilferage. Attorney general R Venkataramani opposed the plea and said the hearing should be concluded. The CJI-led bench told RIL, “We will conclude hearing but will give breathing time…to explore conciliation. If you arrive at a settlement…report it to us and we will dispose of the appeal.”Routed benefits from ONGC gas to govt: RIL in court At the outset of the hearing, advocates Sameer Parikh and R Sasiprabhu, representing RIL, made the request for adjournment before a bench of CJI Surya Kant, and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi. Earlier, RIL’s lead counsel Harish Salve had requested SC to adjourn hearing to July, citing personal health issues and that he would like to argue before the SC as he had conducted the proceedings before the arbitral tribunal that had ruled in RIL’s favour. SC had told RIL to make alternative arrangements in Salve’s absence. Prior to the bench taking up RIL’s appeal, which challenged the decision of a division bench of Delhi HC reversing concurrent findings in favour of RIL by the arbitral tribunal and the single-judge bench of HC, senior advocate Mahesh Agrawal repeated the request for adjournment to enable RIL explore conciliation. But the bench remained firm about concluding the final hearing. Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for RIL, told the bench that the HC erred in interfering with the well-considered international arbitral award and explained that the flow of gas from ONGC block to RIL was a natural phenomenon. He said that even if RIL extracted, although not deliberately, gas belonging to ONGC, the group has fully accounted for it and routed the benefits to the govt, hence causing no loss to it. Singhvi said RIL and its global partners had invested $7.4 billion for exploration of natural gas, for which the govt bore no risk. The govt received $1.2 billion in terms of royalty, profit and indirect taxes. Additionally, govt saved $13.7 billion in subsidy burden. He said the govt demand of additional $2.8 billion is four times over RIL’s profit of $644 million. And said even if the govt’s contention were assumed to be correct on alleged pilferage of gas from ONGC block, the Centre is entitled to only $105 million. Arguments will continue Thursday.
