Corporate Affairs Minister Murli Deora has been left out of the ministerial panel that will vet London-listed mining group Vedanta Resources' $9.6 billion acquisition of Cairn India.
The Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was notified on April 13 with Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy, Law Minister M Veerapa Moily and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia as members, sources said.
Also on the panel is Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal but Deora, who as the then oil minister had done the spade work on the Cairn-Vedanta deal and whose current ministry looks after mergers and acquisitions, is not on the panel.
The GoM is likely to meet soon, they said adding Sibal may have been included as the deal involved complex legal issues.
Sources said Deora was in favour of addressing concerns of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp, which owns stake in 8 out of 10 assets of Cairn India, before approving the deal.
After his exit from the ministry in January this year, Reddy diluted his stand. But the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on April 6 had to refer the deal to the GoM following differences in the cabinet panel.
The Cabinet panel was divided on whether London-listed mining group with no experience in oil should be given unconditional approval for buying a company that owns the nation's largest onland oil fields or given clearance after attaching reasonable conditions.
Sources said law ministry has strongly backed protection of partner ONGC's rights in the deal.
Solicitor General of India had opined that Vedanta must agree to equitably share Rs 18,000 crore royalty ONGC pays in excess of its share from Cairn India's mainstay Rajasthan oilfields, before the government nod.
