INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - OCTOBER 21^st - NOVEMBER 15^th - 2007

BOMBAY HIGH COURT ASKS RIL, RNRL TO RENEGOTIATE PACT

The Bombay High Court has asked Reliance Industries (RIL) and Reli-ance Natural Resources (RNRL) to renegotiate the gas supply pact be-tween the two, saying an earlier agreement of January 2006 violated the Ambani family settlement. Justice AV Mohta gave both parties four months to renegotiate the deal and added that RIL can't sign a gas deal with a third party during the period. Justice Mohta also upheld the validity of the Ambani family settlement that divided the Reliance group between Mukesh and Anil Ambani. The order throws the ball back into the court of the two companies that have been fighting for nearly two years over the price and quantity of gas to be supplied. RNRL first went to court in November 2006 alleging that RIL is not implementing the scheme of demerger between the two groups that have been approved by the court. The demerger scheme was based on the family settlement.