This is a pretty impressive list and it raises two questions. First, is the government going to be satisfied with periodically censuring DGH, what about looking at a more substantive approach? Second, while the ministry has been acting as a last line of defence against some of DGH’s overzealous actions, how can the ministry not realise that its own position is compromised, at least in principle? The ministry is an interested party in all oil/gas exploration disputes; production contracts are drawn up between the explorer and the ministry. The possibilities of controversies over the ministry’s ruling always exist; they were realised over its ruling in the gas supply dispute between the Ambani siblings.

The obvious solution is to set up a body independent from the ministry and senior to DGH. Something akin to the appellate tribunal that operates in telecom. Indeed a tribunal will act as a curb on DGH’s enthusiasm, because the director general views the ministry as almost an equal, often citing a September 2006 notification as a basis for his ‘powers’. This bureaucratic hair-splitting can continue for ever. A tribunal would, as it were, pour water over troubled oil.