The Ambani gas dispute continues to agitate Members of Parliament,with some raising the demand for nationalisation of Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 fields. Lok Sabha MP Harsh Vardhan on July 23 wrote to Petroleum Minister Murli Deora asking why the government had kept quite for all this while on the Ambani family MoU that provides for dividing Krishna-Godavari basin gas between companies run by brothers Mukesh and Anil. "If RIL has indeed violated the Production Sharing Contract and has kept the Petroleum Ministry and the Government of India - the real owner of this KG basin gas out of the loop (on signing of MoU),then by merely penalizing RIL with a mere penalty of few lakhs rupees will not serve the purpose," he wrote. "Government of India should nationalize all assets of KG basin and give RIL an assured return on its investment." Rajya Sabha member Alka Balram Kshatriya stated that the private family MoU "touches upon the government's supreme and sovereign right on country's natural resource like gas and the government's plenary power to regulate its allocation as well as pricing." "On the face of it the private arrangement mitigates against public commitment under PSC," she wrote. "In the circumstances,the government should uphold,defend and vindicate its policies by pro-active intervention in the Supreme Court." Kshatriya stated that even though Mukesh Ambani's RIL was an explorer,the ultimate power regarding its distribution and price regulation vests in the government as is clear from the Gas Utilisation Policy,PSC and New Exploration Licensing Policy,worked out by the government at the highest level. "Therefore government has high stakes in the matter. It will therefore be right and proper for government to intervene and apprise the court of the inherent weakness and flaws in (Anil Ambani Group firm) RNRL's claim (on KG-D6 gas)," she said. "It seems that both the brothers have treated precious natural gas on a part of family heirloom and therefore divisible." Vardhan on August 13 wrote to Deora again expressing shock at reports that Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had not been able to audit KG-D6 books. "If the report is true,it is really very shocking that a contractor is not adhering to the law of the land and the Government is keeping mum over the issue," he wrote. MPs had raised the issue of nationalisation during the Budget session of Parliament,but Oil Minister Murli Deora in his reply had said the age of nationalisation is over.
