Ambanis oppose MoU disclosure

Locked in a bitter legal battle over supply and pricing of natural gas, Mukesh Ambani's RIL and Anil's RNRL buried the hatchet to jointly oppose a petition in Supreme Court seeking disclosure of the family agreement for division of assets and demerger of Reliance companies. The petition was filed by a person who held shares in both RIL and RNRL. He questioned the basis for the demerger and division of companies based on a "secret" family agreement without it being put before the Board of Directors or being disclosed to shareholders. Challenging a June 15 order of Bombay High Court, one Vishweshwar M Raste requested a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices V S Sirpurkar and P Sathasivam to make him a party in the pending appeals of RIL and RNRL. This brought the counsel for RIL and RNRL, senior advocates Harish Salve and Mukul Rohtagi, together to oppose the plea signalling a bonhomie rarely seen during the ongoing pitched legal battle. Salve admitted, "For a change, we are on the same side." Though the Bench refused to entertain Raste's request to make him a party in the ongoing dispute, it did not reject his plea and directed its listing along with other petitions when hearing on the RIL-RNRL dispute resumes on Wednesday