Hyderabad: A two-judge bench of the High Court at Hyderabad comprising Justice Dilip B Bhosale and Justice A Ramalingeswara Rao on Monday ordered the Central Government to respond to allegations that the BJP and the TDP governments had illegally allotted the D6 Block of the Krishna-Godavari Basin to Reliance Industries in 2000. The bench was dealing with a public interest writ petition filed by Palem Srikanth Reddy, President of Janapalana Party, and an NRI of the Kadapa district seeking an inquiry by the CBI.

The petitioner contended that Reliance Industries indulged in scuttling chances of the state to availing its legitimate share of gas explored from the KG Basin. The counsel for the petitioner informed the court that the Central Government had decided to allot the gas to the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The bench granted 10 days time to the Additional Solicitor General to ascertain from the Centre on the decision of distribution of gas to the twin states.