Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Tuesday insisted the Prime Minister's Office had not directed his ministry to allocate natural gas to companies run by family of Shipping Minister T R Baalu, breaking the government's silence over the issue.
Deora, who is likely to make a statement on the issue in Parliament on Wednesday, said PMO as a matter of procedure forwarded to his ministry requests from Kings Power and Kings Chemicals, two firms run by Baalu's family, for gas allocation.
"The Prime Minister had not told us to allocate gas... His office had not made any recommendations in anyone's favour," he said. Deora said requests received at PMO are routinely forwarded to concerned ministry for processing and the same was done in Baalu's case.
"There is no nepotism. We did not allocate gas to them. In fact, this was used as a ground by these companies to move court against the government. If they went to court against a decision, it certainly cannot be favouring them," he said.
The companies, run by Baalu's family, in June 1999 were allocated gas but a Gas Sales Agreement (GSA) could not be signed over payment of transportation charge. The allocation, made at subsidised prices, expired or got cancelled in 2004.
The two firms made a request for restoration of the allocation in 2004 and in this connection Baalu had met head of gas utility GAIL and gas producer ONGC in 2007. He also had meetings with top officials of the Petroleum Ministry who expressed inability to restore gas allocation.
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