IANS

New Delhi, Sep 5: State-run power utility NTPC has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court order that permitted Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries to amend its petition on the Krishna-Godavari gas row.

Reliance Industries had told the Bombay High Court it cannot sell gas to NTPC at $2.34 per unit - which it had proposed in an international competitive bidding - since an empowered group of ministers had fixed the price at $4.2 per unit.

The bid was for 12 million metric standard cubic metres of gas per day at $2.34 per unit for NTPC's Kawas and Gandhar expansion projects.

But in a separate petition filed before the Supreme Court, the government said the price of $4.2 per unit fixed by the ministerial group was without prejudice to the case being fought by NTPC against Reliance Industries in the Bombay High Court.

This petition was filed during the course of another case over a similar matter being heard by the apex court involving Anil Ambani group's Reliance Natural Resources and his elder brother Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries.

Curiously, NTPC had said in a filing Friday with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that it has virtually reached an agreement with Reliance Industries for getting 2.67 million units per day from the same fields based on the allocation by the ministerial group.

"It is informed that NTPC is committed to draw the allocated gas for its National Capital Region's gas-based power stations at Anta, Dadri and Faridabad without prejudice to its rights and contentions in the ongoing suit pending before the honourable Bombay High Court, for Kawas and Gandhar expansion projects," it said.