PTI reported that Oil Ministry, seeking his replacement, has said that the Additional Solicitor General Mr AS Chandhiok had conceded to the prayer of opposite party Essar Steel while representing the government in a case of natural gas supply which was contrary to the brief given to him.

The communication between the Petroleum Ministry and the Law Ministry, now made public under the RTI Act, shows that assurance given by Mr Chandhiok before the Delhi High Court in the case was contrary to the stand of the Government.

An oil ministry official quoted the Delhi High Court order in the note sheet while recommending to replace Mr Chandhiok said that "Mr A S Chandhiok, learned ASG, states that the stand of the EGoM in the matter will be made explicit by an affidavit to be filed on its behalf on or July 4th 2011.”

In a letter provided to Mr SC Agrawal in RTI response, Oil Secretary Mr GC Chaturvedi asked the law ministry to replace Mr Chandhiok saying his statements before the court were contrary to the stand of the Government despite being personally briefed by minister Jaipal Reddy on the issue. He said that "The ASG, by his statement before the Court has, in effect, conceded to the main demand of petitioner without arguing the case on merits.”

Mr Chaturvedi said although the High Court passed orders based on his statement on June 3, he took nearly a month to intimate the Government on the action to be taken on the orders and asked the Cabinet Secretariat to file an affidavit on the behalf of the E-GoM.

Mr Chandhiok represented the government in a case where Essar Steel had approached the High Court challenging the Petroleum Ministry's move to reduce the supply of natural gas from the Reliance KG-D6 fields to non core sectors. In the note sheet, an oil ministry official Tikam Singh had said the stand taken by the ASG was contrary to the instructions not to accede to such a reference to EGoM.

(Sourced from PTI)