Reliance Industries (RIL) is in for a tough time as a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed seeking government action against the company for producing less natural gas from KG D6 basin than what was agreed in the production sharing agreement.

The PIL was filed by Common Cause, a citizen’s group, seeking cancellation of RIL's lease for the D6 gas block in the Krishna-Godavari basin (KG-D6) because of its failure produce and supply the agreed gas output. Alternatively, the petitioner sought an “appropriate penalty on the firm.

The block in the Krishna-Godavari basin is being operated jointly by RIL and Niko Resources under a production-sharing contract with the government.

Earlier, Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking review on the gas pricing decision from $4.2 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) to more than $8 an mBtu based on the Rangarajan formula.

Currently, the operators produce 14 million standard cubic metre a day (mscmd) of gas though they had projected around 80 mscmd.

Dasgupta alleged that there was collusion between RIL and the political establishment and he sought an investigation by a special investigative team or the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the supervision of the apex court into the issue.