At a time when the gas pricing row is being heard by the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran has shot an opinion to the Centre terming Arvind Kejriwal’s FIR on the issue against Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily and RIl’s Mukesh Ambani among others as “illegal”.
Terming the FIR by Kejriwal, the then Chief Minister of Delhi, as an action in haste, the Solicitor General (SG) recommended the Centre to approach the High Court or Supreme Court for quashing the complaint as the action by the State was a violation of the federal character under which States have no policing powers over Centre or its functionaries. Moreover, he suggested that gas pricing is a subject covered under Union list, and any decision taken by the Centre cannot be questioned by State.
Dealing with the issue, Parasaran said, “The conduct of the Delhi Government…poses a fundamental threat to the federal structure of the Constitution.” According to him, “The State Government does not have any policing powers over the Central Government or its functionaries or the Union Cabinet.”
The opinion has come at a time when the Solicitor General is defending the Centre in Supreme Court against two PIls filed by CPI MP Gurusdas Dasgupta and NGO Common Cause. The two petitions have held fault with the Government’s decision to arbitrarily hike gas price from USD 4.2 per million British thermal unit (mBTU) to USD 8.4 mBTU.
The FIR filed by Kejriwal had accused the Centre of causing illegal profits to RIl, which is producing gas from KG Basin. It named Petroleum Minister Moily, RIl chairman Mukesh Ambani, Director General Hydrocarbons VK Sibal and former Petroleum Minister Murli Deora in its complaint.
He further pointed out that the State acted in “haste” when the issue was being agitated in Court. In my view, he said, “giving a direction to the police to entertain and register this FIR on a policy decision by the Union Government is not going to set a healthy precedent.”