Plea Filed In Supreme Court Against HC Order Refusing CBI Probe Against Reliance Industries

A Special Leave Petition has been filed before the Supreme Court against the Bombay High Court's refusal to direct the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register an FIR against Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), its directors and others.

The case concerns allegations of illegal extraction of natural gas from ONGC's Krishna-Godavari basin fields.

The High Court had dismissed the writ petition filed by Jitendra Punamchand Maru, holding that it was an abuse of the process of law and lacked bona fides.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi will hear Maru's petition on July 21. 

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Suman Shyam refused to direct registration of an FIR against RIL, holding that the allegations arose from a dispute already subject to arbitration and related proceedings.

Maru alleged that RIL had illegally extracted gas from ONGC's KG Basin fields through sideways drilling, relying on the De Golyer and MacNaughton report and the Justice A.P. Shah Committee report which allegedly assessed the value of the gas at USD 155.2 million.

He sought a direction to the CBI to register an FIR. The CBI opposed the plea, stating that the dispute was civil in nature, no complaint had been lodged by ONGC or the union government, and the petitioner's complaint had already been closed on September 30, 2025.

RIL argued that the dispute stemmed from contractual issues under the Production Sharing Contract and that the writ petition was filed with an oblique motive.

Rejecting the plea, the High Court noted the unexplained delay by the petitioner, observing:

"There is no reason indicated in the writ petition and the petitioner could not offer any explanation why he did not approach the Court earlier if at all he had a genuine reason to believe that any crime was committed in respect of the tapping of gas from ONGC oil wells."

The Court also cautioned against entertaining such petitions, holding that such has the effect of damaging the reputation of any corporate entity. 

"A petition like the present one causes serious harm to the reputation and business prospects of any Corporate entity."

Holding that the writ petition was an abuse of process, lacked bona fides and did not serve any genuine public interest, the High Court dismissed the petition. It also noted that RIL's challenge to the Delhi High Court's judgment in the arbitration dispute is pending before the Supreme Court.