We all might be confused as to when the verdict of the RIL RNRL case will come?It can come any day but from what Supreme Court Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan has said it will come before March."All pending cases in the Supreme Court shall be finished before March".From what we know Balakrishnan is a righteous man true to his word.Hence I don't think he will postpone the case beyond March eventhough that is what RIL wants!!!
On simple evaluation of the case aspects RNRL seems to be on the fair side of the game.This is not to tell that RIL is playing games in the Supreme Court.Moreover RNRL had already won the case in the Bombay High Court.Without clear evidence against RNRL the Supreme Court is not liable to produce any verdict against RNRL.In the very beginning of the trial eventhough RIL had been haughty they were willing to sell gas to RNRL at the rate of $2.4 Mbtu towards the end of the trial which shows the diffidence of RIL towards the case verdict.
RNRL Counsel is the maverick Ram Jethmalani who has been practising law from the age of 17 years.He has a repertoire of cases to his credit-the Indira gandhi case,Harshad Mehta Case,Ketan Parikh Case,Manu Sharma-Jessica Lal Case....The chief justice of Sindh High court helped Jethmalani to produce a resolution for helping him practise law at the tender age of 17 years.Moreover Mahesh Jethmalani and Rani Jethmalani are also there to help him with the case.Mukul rohtagi is the junior counsel of RNRL.He too is a hot cake in the law circuits whereas RIL Counsel Harish Salve cannot claim such a reputation.The word of RamJethmalani is taken as the word of the jury .Which other lawyer can claim 70 years of practising law.
RIL has said the SC that they had not seen the MOU at the time of the demerger and it is signed at the personal risk of Mr Mukesh Ambani.Is this statement of RIL easy to digest?Moreover later in the GAS SUPPLY MASTER AGREEMENT(GSMA) they had produced slightly contradictory statements in which the tenure of supply for 17 years cannot be seen and it is also mentioned as to the availability of gas from the KG Basin.
More arguments in part two of my letter