Gas row: Centre denies allegations in Supreme Court

The Centre today denied in the Supreme Court all allegations of collusion and malafide raised in petitions relating to contract given to Reliance Industries Ltd for exploration of oil and gas from Krishna-Godavari basin.

The Centre's submission came while it was concluding its arguments before a bench headed by Justice B S Chauhan, which posted the next hearing on April 16 when the RIL is likely to resume its submissions.

The apex court had on March 11 commenced the hearing on the PILs filed by senior CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta and NGO, Common Cause, which have sought imposition of penalty on private parties for failure to adhere to commitments.

The petitioners have also sought a direction for a thorough audit by CAG of the working of the production-sharing contract (PSC) governing KG block, gold plating by RIL, "underproduction" by RIL and all related issues.

The NGO has also filed an application, seeking direction to the Centre not to go ahead with its decision to double the gas price.

RIL had refuted allegation of extraneous consideration for the increase in the gas price from 4.2 dollar to 8.4 dollar per mmbtu for the gas taken from the existing fields like KG D-6 basin.

During the hearing, the Centre had said that on Election Commission's directive, the hike in the price has been kept on hold.