The Hindu : Supreme Court pulls up Indraprastha Gas Limited

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 10, 2002

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National

Supreme Court pulls up Indraprastha Gas Limited

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI Sept. 9. Dismayed over the repeated "blatant falsehood, incorrect and ambiguous statements'' furnished by the Indraprastha Gas Ltd. (IGL) in the `CNG case', the Supreme Court today issued show cause notice to the company, its present and past managing directors and senior officials as to why "appropriate action not be taken against them.''

A three-Judge Bench, comprising the Chief Justice, B.N. Kirpal, V.N. Khare and Ashok Bhan, pulled up the IGL for "misleading'' the court for the last two years by giving "wrong facts'' and observed "as a court so much of brickbats we have taken by passing all these orders is all because of you.''

Not satisfied with the submission made by senior counsel for IGL, P. Chidambaram, that "incorrect and ambiguous statements were made earlier and now we are making correct statements,'' the Bench directed the present Managing Director, A.K. Dey, his predecessor, Rajeev Sharma, and senior officials, Vincent Lobo and P.S. Bhargava, to be present in the court on September 23.

Describing IGL as "a thoroughly incompetent'' and "not a reliable company,'' the Bench asked the Centre to inform the court "as to what steps can be taken to ensure full and proper dispensation of CNG to the transport sector without there being any queue at the CNG stations.''

The Bench asked the Centre to explore whether Indian Oil Corporation or any other company could be entrusted with the task of supplying CNG to the transport sector.

In its order, the Bench said, "today for the first time on the basis of an affidavit by the IGL, this court is sought to be informed, though not in very clear and explicit terms, that compression capacity and dispensation capacity of a station dispensing gas are two different things.''

It said that over the last two years, various affidavits had been filed on behalf of the IGL assuring the court that it would be able to meet the demands of the transport sector but the problem was that it did not have enough supply.

The Bench noted that, "it is this reason why the Union Government was directed to supply 16.11 lakh kg of CNG to ensure that the requirement of the transport sector is met. And it is on this basis it was observed that if necessary, gas supply to industries should be cut to give it to the transport sector.''

It further said: ``It was on the basis that compression and dispensation capacities are one and the same and that with the increase in supply of gas by the Union Government the company will be able to dispense greater quantity of CNG, various orders were passed.''

The Bench said, "there is no expression of regret or remorse in the affidavit regarding incorrect information having been supplied to the court.''

It was amicus curiae and Solicitor-General, Harish Salve, who went through the various affidavits of the IGL to drive home the point as to how the IGL had "misled'' the court into believing that both the "dispensing'' and "compressing'' capacities were one and the same.

And on the basis of this the court passed various orders.

Mr. Chidambaram while conceding that wrong facts were furnished till he took charge in July this year, submitted that the demand of CNG calculated by the Union Government and other agencies at 16.11 lakh kg a day was erroneous and grossly exaggerated.

He said the realistic and optimistic assessment would be 6.4 lakh kg and 7.1 lakh kg a day.

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