Gas board questioned on Gujarat-Punjab pipeline (Lead)
June 16th, 2011 - 8:47 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, June 16 (IANS) The Supreme Court Thursday issued notice to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board on Gas Authority of India Limited’s (GAIL) plea challenging the grant of letter of intent to Gujarat State Petronet Ltd. for laying a gas pipeline between Gujarat and Punjab.
The GAIL application, moved in an already pending case, contended that the grant of letter of intent (LoI) for the pipeline from Mehsana in Gujarat to Bhatinda in Punjab was illegal.
The petitioner said the LoI was in gross violation of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) Act and the May 12 order of the apex court which directed that all pending and new applications for laying pipelines would be considered by a multi-member panel of the board.
Issuing the notice, the apex court vacation bench of Justice B.S. Chauhan and Justice Swatanter Kumar said that the grant of LoI for laying the pipeline would be subject to the outcome of the hearing on the application by GAIL.
The court gave the PNGRB two weeks to reply to the application by the GAIL. The matter will come up for hearing after court vacations.
The Loi authorised GSPL to lay, build, operate and expand gas pipeline along the route from Mehsana to Bhatinda.
Seeking the quashing of the LoI issued to GSPL and the bidding process initiated by the PNGRB, GAIL contended that spending Rs.5,000 crore for laying a new pipeline parallel to its existing pipeline would be a drain on the public exchequer.
Appearing for GAIL, senior counsel Ranjit Kumar said that in contravention of the apex court order that the issuance of LoI should be decided by the multi-member board, it was decided by two people.
The applicant contended that neither member (technical) nor member (commercial) of the board could have participated in the meeting where the grant of LoI to GSPL was decided.
The GAIL application said that “the decision was not taken by the multi-member board but by certain officers of the board with the approval of the chairman.”
Applicant GAIL said by spending Rs.500-600 crore, its existing pipeline could be used to serve the purpose of distribution of gas in different areas between Mehsana and Bhatinda.
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Tags: apex, apex court, contravention, crore, gail, gas authority of india limited, gas pipeline, gross violation, gspl, gujarat state petronet, gujarat state petronet ltd, letter of intent, mehsana, member board, member panel, offi, petitioner, punjab, regulatory board, senior counsel