Former Australian judge Michael McHugh had to quit as chairman of an arbitral tribunal in the Reliance Industries' KG-D6 cost recovery dispute as Oil Ministry challenged his decision to return after he initially withdrew from the post.
Oil Ministry in a Facebook post confirmed that McHugh has "communicated his decision that he would cease to act as the Chairman of the Arbitral Tribunal." The Supreme Court had on April 29 named Michael Hudson McHugh, former judge of the High Court of Australia, as the third arbitrator in the dispute over cost recovery in KG-D6 gas block.
McHugh, however, on May 20, withdrew as the chairman of the tribunal to which RIl had named former Chief Justice of Supreme Court S P Bharucha as its arbitrator and government appointed former Chief Justice of the apex court and V N Khare its counsel. McHugh had said he was not contacted before the appointment was made.
He, however, had a change of heart after counsels of the partners in KG-D6 block reportedly wrote to him. The ministry, however, felt that an arbitrator appointed by the Supreme Court cannot re-appoint himself once he withdrew. "This (the final withdrawal from the case) is in response to the Government's stand that he ceases to be the Chairman of the tribunal once he has declined to act as the Presiding Arbitrator," the ministry said in the Facebook post.