GUWAHATI: The Centre on Tuesday, June 30, told the Supreme Court that media reports claiming it had described the 20 per cent Ethanol Blended Petrol (E20) programme as an “ongoing experiment” were “completely false” and did not reflect submissions made by Attorney General R. Venkataramani, according to a statement by the Ministry of Law and Justice and the Attorney General’s office.
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The Attorney General’s office said it had taken note of media reports published on June 30 in proceedings arising from a Special Leave Petition filed by oil marketing companies led by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) on ethanol allocation.
It said the reports wrongly suggested that the government had told the court the E20 programme was “still an ongoing experiment” and that its impact would become clearer next year. “These reports are completely false and do not reflect anything even close to the actual submissions made before the Hon’ble Court,” the statement said.
The ministry clarified that at no stage had the government submitted that the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme or the E20 blending programme was an “experiment”.
According to the statement, the Attorney General informed the Supreme Court that similar petitions on ethanol allocation to Dedicated Ethanol Plants were pending before various High Courts, and that transfer petitions were being filed seeking their transfer to the apex court.
It said the aim was to ensure that common questions of law arising from the same contractual framework were considered together, to avoid parallel proceedings and conflicting judgments, and to enable expeditious disposal of cases. It added that this was intended to ensure uninterrupted ethanol supply to oil marketing companies for maintaining 20 per cent blending under the national Ethanol Blended Petrol programme.
Taking note of the submissions, the Supreme Court said the proposed transfer petitions should be filed and directed that status quo be maintained on ethanol allocation for the current Ethanol Supply Year (2025–26) in the present matter.
The case stems from a June 23 order of the Karnataka High Court directing oil marketing companies: BPCL, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Indian Oil Corporation to consider a distillery’s request for enhanced ethanol allocation before finalising the tender process for 2025–26.