Decide within two months on PSC extension with Cairn: HC to Govt

Delhi High Court on Monday directed the government to positively take a decision within two months regarding extension of a production sharing contract (PSC) it has with Cairn India, a subsidiary of UK-based Vedanta group, to produce oil from a Rajasthan block till 2020.

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva directed the Centre to arrive at a decision by January 6, 2017, with regard to Cairn’s request for extending till 2030, the PSC that the company and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have with the government, and listed the matter for hearing on January 9, 2017. 

The court, however, made it clear that the decision has to be taken without linking it with the policy being contemplated by the government regarding PSCs with other companies which too are up for extension.

Observing that each PSC was different and they cannot be clubbed together, the judge asked the government to take a decision in terms of the court’s December 14, 2015 order, as per which ONGC had six weeks to decide whether the contract needed to be extended and within three months after that the Centre was to have taken a decision.