JUDGMENT

G.S. SINGHVI, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. Whether the Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court was justified in entertaining the writ petition filed by the respondent under Article 226 of the Constitution in the matter of fixation of price of the gas supplied by the appellant and whether a mandamus could be issued requiring the appellant to engage itself with the respondent to arrive at the price of gas effective from 1.1.2014 are the questions which arise for consideration in this appeal.

3. The Government of India constituted Petronet LNG Limited (PLL) for marketing liquefied natural gas (LNG) imported from Qatar and other countries. The Petronet LNG Limited consists of GAIL (India) Limited (the appellant), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC).

4. On 31.7.1999, Petronet LNG Limited entered into Sale Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Ras Gas, Qatar for supply of 5 MMTPA of LNG for a period of 25 years. In August 2006, the SPA was amended to include additional quantity of 2.5 MMTPA of