New Delhi, April 18 (PTI): Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries today approached the Supreme Court seeking the appointment of an arbitrator on behalf of the government to decide its dispute with the government over the recovery of cost for developing the country’s key natural gas field in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin.

The move came in the wake of the government’s refusal to settle the dispute through arbitration over the recovery of cost incurred by the company in developing the field.

The petition filed by Reliance said it had already appointed former Chief Justice of India S.P. Bharucha as arbitrator, but the government had not done so according to the contractual obligation.

In the petition, Reliance has asked the Chief Justice of India, S.H. Kapadia, to appoint a second arbitrator on behalf of the government.

The petition filed through advocate Sameer Parekh said that according to the contract the government could not reduce the recovery amount.

The petroleum ministry had proposed to restrict the cost of around Rs 6,343 crore, which the company had sought to recover for developing the KG D6 field.

Reliance had issued an arbitration notice to the government on November 23, 2011, proposing the appointment of Bharucha as arbitrator in the dispute and asked the ministry to appoint a second arbitrator.

However, the government has refused the plea of Reliance saying there is no dispute, the advocate said.