Supreme Court Says New Panel to Hear Ambani Gas Case

By P.S. Patnaik

Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- India’s Supreme Court said a new panel of judges will hear arguments afresh in the Ambani gas lawsuit, starting tomorrow, after one member withdrew from the case to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

Justice R.V. Raveendran stepped down from the panel of three judges headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan that’s hearing the case, saying his daughter works with a law company that advises Reliance Industries Ltd., controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani.

“I do not want to be a party to this case,” Raveendran said. “Yesterday, I spoke to my daughter who is in Bangalore and she works with AZB & Partners, which is advising Reliance Industries on other projects for global acquisitions.”

The Supreme Court is hearing a plea by Reliance Industries to overturn a lower-court order to supply gas to a company owned by Mukesh’s younger brother Anil Ambani at 44 percent less than a price set by the government in 2007. Raveendran previously offered to withdraw from the hearings after saying he owns shares in Reliance Industries and Reliance Natural Resources.

Reliance shares gained 4 percent to 1,891 rupees at 11:56 a.m. in Mumbai trading compared with a 2.2 percent increase in the benchmark Sensitive Index. Reliance Natural shares rose 1.9 percent to 67.70 rupees.

Lawyers for both companies said they had no objection to Raveendran continuing on the panel. Raveendran holds 772 shares of Reliance Industries and 783 shares of Reliance Natural, according to a list of assets owned by judges on the Web site of the Supreme Court.

The nation’s top court started hearings on the dispute on Oct. 20 after agreeing to skip preliminary hearings.

The case is SLP(C) No. 14997/2009 between Reliance Natural Resources and Reliance Industries in India’s Supreme Court.

To contact the reporter on this story: P.S. Patnaik in New Delhi at ppatnaik2@bloomberg.net.