The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Union government and and Reliance Industries (RIL) over the government's decision to raise the price of natural gas. Responding to the CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta public interest litigation (PIL), the SC agreed to look into the matter and issued the notices to both the parties.    

The government has decided to increase the price of natural gas from $4.2 per million British thermal unit (mbtu) to $8.4 mbtu from April 1, 2014. The new $8.4 mbtu price, which will be reviewed every three months, will apply to all the gas producers uniformly including State-owned firms like Oil India (OIL) and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and private companies like RIL.    

Chief Justice P Sathasivam headed SC bench sought response from the government and RIL on the PIL. The PIL alleged that no due diligence was done by the government while increasing the price of natural gas. The court directed the parties to file their response within four weeks and posted the matter for further hearing to September 6.