O.M.P (I) (COMM) 125/2022

Page 1 of 24

via Video-conferencing

$~S-

*

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

Date of Decision: 12^thMay 2022

+

O.M.P (I) (COMM) 125/2022 & I.A. No. 6159/2022

GUJARAT GAS LIMITED

..... Petitioner

Through:

Mr. Parag P. Tripathi, Sr. Advocate

with Mr. Piyush Joshi, Mr. Srinivasan

Ramaswamy, Ms. Vatsla Bhatia &

Ms. Manali Joshi, Advocates.

versus

VEDANTA LIMITED & ORS.

..... Respondents

Through:

Mr. Kapil Sibal, Sr. Advocate with

Mr. Sandeep Sethi, Sr. Advocate with

Ms.

Ranjana

Roy

Gawai,

Ms.Vasudha Sen & Ms. Aayushi

Singh, Advocates.

Mr. Jafar Alam & Mr. Saahil Kaul,

Advocates for R-4.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANUP JAIRAM BHAMBHANI

J U D G M E N T

ANUP JAIRAM BHAMBHANI J.

By way of the present petition under section 9 of the

Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 („A&CAct‟), the petitioner

This is a digitally signed Judgement.

NEUTRAL CITATION NO: 2022/DHC/001836

O.M.P (I) (COMM) 125/2022

Page 2 of 24

seeks interim measures of protection against the respondents in the

context of disputes that are stated to have arisen from Master Gas

Sales Contract dated 30.05.2001 („MGSC‟) and other related

agreements as detailed hereinafter.

2.

Although several prayers have been made in the petition, in view of

what has transpired in the interregnum, the petitioner has at this stage,

pressed only prayer (a), which reads as under :

between the Petitioner and the Respondents”

3.

On the basis of the averments contained in the petition and

submissions made by Mr. Parag Tripathi, learned senior counsel

appearing for the petitioner, the essential case set-up by the petitioner

is the following :

(a)Vidé Master Gas Sales Contract dated 30.05.2001, the

petitioner Gujarat Gas Ltd. („GujaratGas‟) entered into a

contract with a number of entities, some of whom are now

respondents in the present petition. Since all contracting parties

that are respondents, have since changed their names for one

reason or another, the following table summarizes their change

of the names :

This is a digitally signed Judgement.

NEUTRAL CITATION NO: 2022/DHC/001836

O.M.P (I) (COMM) 125/2022

Page 3 of 24

Original name, as it appears in

the MGSC and in other related

correspondence along with

acronyms used in the contracts

and correspondence

Changed name, as appears in

the petition

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation

Ltd. / ONGC

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation

Ltd.

Tata Petrodyne Ltd. / TPL

Invenire Petrodyne Ltd.

Cairn Energy Ltd. / Cairn / VL

Vedanta Ltd.

Gujarat Powergen Energy

Corporation Ltd. / CLP India Pvt

Ltd. / GPEC

Apraava Energy Pvt Ltd.

Gujarat Gas Ltd. / GGL

Gujarat Gas Ltd. / GGL

Respondents Nos. 1 to 3 are being collectively referred to

in the present proceedings as the „Sellers‟, namely those who

sold the natural gas that Gujarat Gas had contracted to purchase

under the contractual arrangement.

(b)Simultaneously, Gujarat Gas also entered into a Gas Sales

Contract dated 30.05.2001 („Gujarat Gas GSC‟) with the

Sellers for long term purchase of certain volumes of gas

produced at the CB-OS/2 Block located in Suvali, Surat,

Gujarat.

(c)Furthermore, respondent No. 4 Apraava Energy Pvt. Ltd.

(„ApraavaEnergy‟) also entered into a Gas Sales Contract

dated 30.05.2001 („Apraava Energy GSC‟) with the Sellers for

This is a digitally signed Judgement.

NEUTRAL CITATION NO: 2022/DHC/001836

O.M.P (I) (COMM) 125/2022

Page 4 of 24

purchase for certain volumes of gas produced at the CB-OS/2

Block.

(d)The MGSC, which was a tripartite agreement, was in the nature

of an umbrella contract which served as a single operational

interface for nomination and delivery of gas sold to Gujarat Gas

under the Gujarat Gas GSC and to Apraava Energy under the

Apraava Energy GSC; the intent and purpose being that in

certain circumstances, Gujarat Gas had the right to acquire the

gas allocated for sale to Apraava Energy by way of a „step-in‟

claus