The Supreme Court today issued notices to the Centre and others on petitions challenging government’s notification facilitating pool pricing of re-gasified liquefied natural gas.
A bench headed by justice Dalveer Bhandari while seeking reply from the Centre, Petronet LNG and oil PSUs – Indian Oil Corporation, GAIL India and Bharat Petroleum Corporation – said it would give directions on November 18.
Essar Steel, Essar Power and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) have challenged the Gujarat High Court’s judgement, which upheld the Union government’s notification facilitating pool pricing of re-gasified LNG.
Challenging the high court judgment, which rejected the plea by state-owned GSPC for cancellation of the Centre’s decision to make a policy change even in existing contracts, Essar said that the state-run oil companies had arbitrarily and illegally increased the prices charged from it under the existing long-term contracts having a fixed price.
Questioning the impugned policy, Essar counsel Abhishek Singhvi and Mahesh Agarwal said that the same had been framed only as short-term stop-gap arrangement to benefit one entity, Ratnagiri Gas & Power (erstwhile Dabhol), in Maharashtra.
However, countering the charge, Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said the policy decision was in public interest, as Essar’s contract was not with any private company but with Petronet, which is a special purpose vehicle formed by the oil PSUs and others.
Besides, the agreement had a clause for price variations and said they had to absorb the increase and pass on the change in prices, he said.