Didn't Mukesh know of Ambani family pact, queries apex court (Lead)

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) can't say it had no knowledge of the Ambani family pact between brothers Mukesh and Anil, which was brokered by their mother Kokilaben, the Supreme Court observed Thursday.

As arguments continued on the Krishna-Godavari gas dispute, Ram Jethmalani, counsel for Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL), wanted to question seven directors of RIL whose affidavits claim they had no knowledge of the contents of the family pact.

"Mukesh Ambani had a copy of the MOU (memorandum of understanding or the family business reorganisation pact)?" asked the three-member apex court bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice P. Sathasivam.

"So you cannot say RIL did not know of the MOU," the bench observed, after hearing the reply of RIL counsel Harish Salve, while adjudicating the Krishna-Godavari gas supply and pricing dispute between RIL and RNRL.

The bench made the observation amid RIL counsel's ongoing arguments that the family pact was "in private domain" and "not in the corporate domain" because of which it was not binding on his client company.

The dispute is over the supply of 28 million units of natural gas for 17 years at $2.34 per unit to Anil Ambani-led Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) from the gas fields off the Andhra Pradesh coast, awarded to Mukesh Ambani-led RIL.

The price, tenure and quantity were all based on a family re-organisation pact in 2005, but RIL subsequently said it could only sell the gas for $4.20 per unit, as this was the price, the company claimed, that was fixed by the government.

Jethmalani, who spoke toward the end of the hearing Thursday, said if the court admits as evidence the affidavits filed by seven directors of RIL who claimed no knowledge of the family pact, then he must be permitted to cross-examine them.

“These affidavits were not filed earlier in the Bombay High Court or in any earlier legal proceedings,” Jethmalani said, adding the law stipulates that while admitting a document as evidence, the person filing them have to be cross-examined.

Earlier, Salve said the family pact also cannot override the production-sharing contract between the company and the government, adding: "The gas belongs to the Government of India till the point of delivery."

He also wondered if it was unreasonable to have the government's nod on the matter.

The RIL counsel said the family pact envisaged gas supplies to RNRL on the same terms under which his client company was to supply natural gas from Krishna-Godavari fields to the state-run power utility NTPC.

This agreement between RIL and NTPC -- which called for gas supplies at $2.34 per unit -- had also resulted in a dispute, and is being adjudicated by the Bombay High Court.

The hearing of the Krishna-Godavari gas dispute is scheduled to resume Friday at 2 p.m.

Last updated on Nov 12^th, 2009 at 17:11 pm IST--IANS