New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to halt proceedings in a government appeal in the Delhi High Court, challenging an order that denied its demand to enforce an arbitration award against Reliance Industries and its partners concerning the Panna-Mukta oilfield and Tapti gas field. A bench led by chief justice of India Surya Kant said the maintainability issue raised by Reliance Industries against the government appeal in the high court can be taken up after the high court issues its final order.The issue related to a 2016 final partial award of $3.86 billion, including interest, in favour of oil ministry towards cost recovery and reimbursement of royalties and taxes related to the oil and gas fields then operated by Reliance and its partners.In June 2023, justice C Hari Shankar of the Delhi HC rejected the ministry's petition seeking enforcement of the 2016 FPA, holding it "premature and not maintainable" and "not an executable arbitral award". The ministry challenged it before the division bench. While Reliance opposed filing of the appeal, arguing that it was not maintainable, the division bench said it did not find any merit in the "preliminary objection". Reliance then approached the top court, which on Friday held that the high court could continue the proceedings.The high court division bench is scheduled to hear the case on August 13. While attorney general R Venkataramani appeared for the government, senior counsel Harish Salve and counsel Sameer Parekh represented Reliance. The oil ministry, while seeking to recover the award amount from Reliance and Shell-owned BG Exploration & Production India, alleged that the two companies were "withholding unlawfully significant amounts of public money" which had already become due and payable in terms of the 2016 FPA. It said the 2016 FPA was "unequivocally and unambiguously" a final and conclusive award in relation to the obligations and rights of both the parties.In its opposition to the oil ministry's appeal in the high court, Reliance argued that allowing the government plea at this stage would be contrary to the FPA itself.Reliance and BG Exploration in December 2010 dragged the government to arbitration over cost recovery provisions, profit due to the government, and also statutory dues, including royalty payable. A three-member arbitration panel on October 12, 2016, upheld the government view that the profit from the fields should be calculated after deducting the then-prevailing tax of 33% and not the 50% rate that existed earlier. It also upheld the cost recovery in the contract, fixed at $545 million for the Tapti gas field and $577.5 million for the Panna-Mukta field in the Arabian Sea off the Mumbai coast.The two firms wanted that cost provision to be raised by $365 million in Tapti and $62.5 million in Panna-Mukta. The tribunal, with the consent of the parties, agreed to decide the dispute, including various components of the cost recovery formula, through a series of partial awards. After all the final partial awards were passed, the actual amounts to be paid were to be computed in the final award.