Supreme Court Pauses KG Basin Gas Dispute Hearing as Reliance and Centre Seek Out-of-Court Settlement

The Supreme Court of India has agreed to postpone the hearing on the long-running Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin gas dispute until the third week of July. This decision follows a mutual request from Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and the Central Government to resolve the matter through bilateral conciliation. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal informed the bench that RIL had submitted a formal plea for conciliation, to which Attorney General R Venkataramani responded that the Centre is open to exploring a bilateral dispute resolution process. The Chief Justice of India welcomed the move, stating, "We will be most happy if the dispute is resolved through conciliation." This marks a shift from the court's previous stance on May 20, when it had declined a request to halt proceedings. The legal battle involves appeals by RIL and its partners, BP Exploration (Alpha) Ltd and Niko (NECO) Ltd, challenging a Delhi High Court verdict. The dispute centers on allegations that the corporate partners siphoned gas from adjacent deposits without legal right. With the court granting the parties until mid-July to find common ground, the focus now shifts to bilateral negotiations to settle one of India's most closely watched energy disputes outside the courtroom.

(Source：Law Trend - Legal News Network)