In the wake of a face-off between Reliance Industries Ltd and the comptroller and auditor general of India, oil minister M Veerappa Moily seems to be trying hard to bury the hatchet. "I have already gone on record to say that it is a contractual relationship between the government and the respective contracting parties... Audit (of spending on oil and gas fields) is part of this (contractual obligation)," Moily said on Monday. "Let us not get into the immediate on this. Allow them (RIL) to make business... They will abide by that (contractual obligations). We need not create problems either for them (RIL) or for the government and CAG (federal auditor)," he added.

The meeting had earlier postponed a meeting between CAG, the oil ministry and RIL, scheduled for October 31 and meant to begin the audit process. The meeting was called-off due to differences over the nature and scope of audit to be conducted by CAG, with RIL saying it was open to a financial audit but not a performance scrutiny in which complex technical decisions like hiring of a particular technology may come in for questioning.

The CAG later clarified last week that it does not conduct performance audit of private auditors.

In light of Moily’s recent patronising remarks on RIL, do you think he is batting for the company?