Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited was on Wednesday indicted in a dispute with the Oil and Natural Gas corporation of India after the AP Shah committee said it had made unfair gains from ONGC’s oil fields in the Krishna-Godavari basin. The panel’s report said RIL had received “unjust benefit” from oil that had flown into its KG 6 field from ONGC's adjacent one. According to Mint, the panel said the government must be compensated for the losses.

The panel claimed ONGC does not have the rights to the compensation as “it does not have any ownership rights or possessory interest in the natural gas.” According to the report, Reliance appropriated 8.9 billion cubic metres of natural gas from the 11 billion cubic metres that flowed from ONGC’s field to its own. The government should decide how much the compensation is worth, the panel added. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the government will act on the report this month.

ONGC had filed the case six years after the discrepancy came to light. The report said the company and RIL had both been remiss in not bringing the developments to the notice of the regulator. ONGC officials might come under fire as a result of the report, with the panel suggesting scrutiny into the delay in filing the case.