Supreme Court Refers Reliance KG Basin Case to Mediation; Justice Ranjana Desai Appointed Mediator

The Supreme Court on Friday directed that the Krishna-Godavari (KG) Basin gas migration dispute between Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and the Union government be referred to mediation.The Court also proceeded to appoint former Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai as the mediator."Let Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai be the mediator. She handles complex commercial disputes well. Let an expert from each side also assist her," the Court said.The bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi passed the order after noting that the parties themselves have not been able to find out a viable solution.Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Reliance, said that the company was open to mediation."We have no problem with mediation. A mediator can be appointed," he submitted."We suggest, on their behalf, that a former Judge of this Court be requested to act as mediator. We also request the learned mediator to have the assistance of two domain experts, as may be suggested by the parties, for the aforesaid purpose. We are assured that fruitful cooperation will be extended to the learned mediator by the parties. The parties may contact Hon'ble Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai during the course of the day or by tomorrow and fix the date and time as per her convenience. We are not fixing any timeline for the mediation proceedings. The parties may make their presentations, both written and oral, before the learned mediator," the Court

Source: Original reporting via Bar and Bench