New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday informed Supreme Court that the hike in the gas prices would be kept on hold as the Election Commission has asked it to wait till the completion of the general elections.
At the outset of the hearing, a bench headed by Justice B S Chauhan wanted to know from the Centre about reports on the Election Commission's decision pertaining to the gas issue.
Additional Solicitor General L Nageswara Rao told the bench that government was not pushing forward for increasing the gas prices as EC has asked it to keep it on hold.
He also said the decision to double the gas prices was taken by the cabinet last year based on the R Rangarajan Committee's recommendations.
Later, Solicitor General Mohan Prasaran, who joined the hearing, also informed the bench that there was no formal order so far and the hike was just a formula which has been accepted by the government.
The bench also comprising justices J Chelameswar and Kurian Joseph took note of the government's submission and preferred to go ahead with the final hearing in the matter.
The apex court on March 11 had commenced the hearing on the pleas challenging government's decision to double the price of natural gas and seeking cancellation of Reliance Industries Ltd's contract for exploration of oil and gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin.
RIL had refuted the allegation of extraneous consideration for the increase in the gas price from 4.2 dollar to 8.4 dollar per mmbtu for the gas taken from the existing fields like KG D-6 basin.
PILs filed by senior CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta and the NGO, Common Cause, has sought imposition of penalty on private parties for failure in adhering to commitments.
The petitioners have also sought a direction for thorough audit by CAG of the working of the production sharing contract (PSC) governing KG block, gold plating by RIL, underproduction by RIL and all related issues.
The NGO has also filed an application seeking a direction to the Centre not to go ahead with its decision to double the gas price with effect from April 1.