Will move court against Reliance arbitration award: Pradhan
New Delhi, Aug 3 : India will appeal against a ruling by an international tribunal in favour of Reliance Industries (RIL) in a dispute over gas migration from fields operated by state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Friday.
Last week, a three-member international arbitration tribunal rejected the government's $1.55 billion claim against RIL and held that the company could contractually produce and sell any gas that might have migrated from adjoining fields of ONGC into its area and Reliance was not obligated to seek prior government permission for doing so.
"The government will certainly file an appeal against the arbitration award in the higher forum. It will be in the high court," Pradhan told reporters here on the sidelines of an event organised by industry body CII.
By a majority vote last week, the arbitration panel held that the production sharing contract for the eastern offshore KG-D6 fields "does not prohibit but permits" RIL "to produce and sell gas which migrated into the sub-sea reservoir lying within (its) Contract Area from a source outside the Contract Area".
He said the government had made a claim on Reliance and its partners based on the recommendation of the Justice A.P. Shah Committee that quantified the natural gas that had migrated to KG-D6 from neighbouring blocks of ONGC.
The tribunal also awarded $8.3 million as compensation to the three partners in the operator consortium of the KG-D6 block, where RIL has 60 per cent interest, British major BP holds 30 per cent and Niko Resources of Canada the remaining 10 per cent.
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Rowdy-Sheeter Ganesh Poojary detained under Goonda Act in Udupi
Udupi: Police in Udupi have detained a rowdy-sheeter, Ganesh Poojary (48), a resident of Kaudoor village, under the provisions of the Goonda Act.
The action was taken following a report submitted by Udupi Superintendent of Police Hariram Shankar. Based on the recommendation, Deputy Commissioner Swaroop T.K. issued the detention order on April 4. The accused has been lodged in the central prison in Kalaburagi as per the order.
According to police records, Ganesh Poojary has a total of 11 cases registered against him at the Karkala Town Police Station. These include four cases of attempted murder, one robbery, three assault cases, one case of unlawful assembly, one gambling-related case, and another miscellaneous offence.
Of these, he has been convicted in one case, acquitted in seven cases, while one case is currently under trial and two others remain under investigation.
Police said the detention was carried out to prevent further criminal activities and to maintain public order in the district.
