HC to hear RIL-NTPC on April 20

Mumbai, Apr 16: The Bombay High Court will hear the National Thermal Power Corporation - Reliance Industries Limited argument about the gas sale and purchase agreement on April 20.

Justice S U Kamdar adjourned the hearing on March 28 on mutual request by NTPC and RIL counsels as both had failed to file their respective afidavits as asked by the court.

The judge, on February 28 had asked RIL to file a detailed affidavit over the dispute in two weeks. He had further asked the NTPC to file a rejoinder to the affidavit within ten days of the RIL's stand on the vexed issue.

The country's biggest power producer had filed a petition against RIL on December 20, last year seeking a direction to RIL to sign the GSPA and also restricting it from entering into gas supply contract with any third party.

RIL has already signed an expression of interest (EoI) for supplying 132 trillion British thermal units of gas to NTPC's 2,600 MW plants at Kawas and Gandhar in Gujarat at US dollars 2.97 per MBTU gas for 17 years from 2007.

But during the hearing of the case, RIL had argued the project has become ''unbankable'' in view of ''uncapped liability clause in the GSPA.''

UNI