An Indian judge has told India's billionaire Ambani brothers to get their mother to settle their latest fight over natural gas supplies, telling them it is in the "national interest," a report said Friday. The two brothers, listed by Forbes magazine as among the world's six richest men, have been at odds since 2005 over a supply agreement from the Krishna Godavari basin off India's east coast.
"Why don't you go back to your mother? Both parties should settle. It's not a family dispute," Justice J.N. Patel was quoted as saying late Thursday. "It's a matter of national importance and a resolution will be in the public interest since natural gas is a national asset," he told the brothers' lawyers. Energy-hungry India needs all the domestic reserves it can exploit to fuel its fast-paced economy.
The advice from the Bombay High Court judge came after younger brother Anil Ambani's Delhi-based lawyer said his client was open to discussing all issues with his brother. "My client is willing to sit alone with Mukesh at whatever time and place he suggests," Mukhul Rohtagi told The Times of India. "We are willing to let the brothers sit with any expert or their mother to resolve the issue," added Anil Ambani's other lawyer Ram Jethmalani.
A lawyer for Mukesh Ambani said he would "have to take instructions" from his client. The dispute revolves around a deal for supply of gas from Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd to Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Ltd power plant.
Reliance Industries wants a steeper price than earlier agreed for the gas it is drilling at the Krishna Godavari basin. In 2005, their widowed mother Kokilaben brokered a deal that divided the 23-billion-dollar Reliance corporate empire her late rags-to-riches husband founded.
Her intervention followed seven months of feuding between the brothers for control over India's largest private-sector conglomerate. But the fraternal peace was short-lived and the two were soon fighting again over rival business interests. The pair are as different as chalk and cheese in looks and temperament, but the one trait they share is a reverence for their mother.