Special Erroneous Zones: Ambani turf war spills over to Maha SEZ

ANUPAMA AIRY
Posted online: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 0000 hours IST

NEW DELHI, APR 17: The turf war between the Ambani brothers doesn’t seem to end. This time it’s about Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL’s) plans to set up two gas-based power plants for the special economic zone (SEZ) in Maharashtra.
In strongly worded letters to the central and state governments, the Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Energy Ltd (REL) has alleged that such a move by RIL amounts to breach of the non-competition agreement entered into between the brothers prior to the reorganisation of the Reliance group.

“The proposal of RIL to set up power facilities for the commercial units and residents of SEZs is in clear violation of the non-competition understandings and amounts to harming the interests of millions of shareholders of Anil D Ambani group. Similarly, supply of surplus power by RIL (after meeting its captive needs) to state-owned utilities was also not allowed under the non-competition agreement,” REL said in its letter to Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

In a similar letter to A Raja, minister of environment & forests, REL said, “RIL may be or might have approached you for developing captive generation facilities. RIL’s intent to set up a power plant in excess of captive requirement is a clear breach of trust of the de-merger agreement.”

REL’s letter further said that such proposals, discussed by RIL’s chairman & managing director, Mukesh Ambani, go far beyond the scope of RIL’s business, as agreed to under the de-merger scheme of the Reliance group.

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=161502

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Sudarshan Rodriguez

Sudarshan Rodriguez,

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Project Coordinator,

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