Sc hearing deferred

Just when everyone thought that the Ambani gas opera will provide more girst for their mills, the Supreme Court has deferred the hearing of the controversial case to October 20. On Friday, a bench headed by chief justic K G Balakrishnan decided to pose the matter for October after RIL counsel suggested the matter be heard on October 20. With RNRL counsel Mukul Rohatgi agreeing, the matter has been deferred.

Till yesterday, the war of missives continued unabated with both RIL and RNRL dashing off letters. With advertisements having stopped, RNRL asked the oil ministry why it was not protecting NTPC's claims, given that it was a government company and as such should have been covered under 'national interest'? This is the plea that the oil ministry has strangely taken in the RIL-RNRL case, but has taken a subjective view in the NTPC case where its claim of 12 million units per day for 17 years and $2.34 has not been taken seriously by the government.

In any case, the hearing could not have taken place on September 1, the originally designated date as the CJI is busy with a five member Constitutional Bench till the first week of the month. Expect more fireworks in media in the meantime, for the battle between the fraternal brothers will only escalate now.