New Delhi, Jun 30 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered status quo on a Karnataka High Court direction to enhance ethanol allocation for Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2025-26.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by an oil marketing company, which claimed that the high court’s order would destabilise the national policy of 20 per cent ethanol blending for petrol.
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Sheel Nagu issued notice on a plea filed by the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd challenging the high court order.
The high court had directed the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Indian Oil Corporation Limited to consider and decide a representation submitted by a dedicated ethanol manufacturer seeking enhancement of ethanol allocation for ESY 2025-26.
The high court had held that dedicated ethanol plants, which were established pursuant to government policy and are contractually bound to supply ethanol exclusively to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), cannot be denied the benefit of preferential allocation contemplated under the Long-Term Offtake Agreement (LTOA).
Attorney General R Venkataramani submitted that HC’s order directing OMCs to consider enhancement of ethanol allocation to VINP Distilleries and Sugars would destabilise the national policy.
Venkataramani pointed out that the ethanol supply contracts were concluded in October 2025.
He said the ethanol allocation exercise attained finality on October 17, 2025, and allocations were communicated to 378 suppliers for a total supply of 1,050 crore litres of ethanol, of which 680 crore litres had already been supplied by them by June 18.
If one supplier’s quota were enhanced, other similarly placed suppliers would claim parity, which would open litigation floodgates, he said.
A press release issued by the Office of the Attorney General for India in the evening clarified that certain media reports have incorrectly reported the submission that the government’s 20 per cent Ethanol Blended Petrol (E20) Programme is “still an ongoing experiment” and that “the impact of the policy would become clearer by next year.” “During the hearing, the learned Attorney General submitted that similar writ petitions involving identical issues concerning allocation of ethanol to Dedicated Ethanol Plants are presently pending before different high courts.
“It was informed to the Hon’ble Supreme Court that Transfer Petitions are being filed for transfer of such matters to the Hon’ble Supreme Court so that common questions of interpretation of law arising from the same contractual framework may be considered together to avoid parallel proceedings and the possibility of conflicting decisions, if at all,” a press release said.
The release further said the step is also likely to enable expeditious resolution of the litigation, so that supplies of ethanol to OMCs to maintain 20 per cent blending with petrol throughout the year are not impacted, under the Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme, which is a national programme.
In its plea before the top court, Bharat Petroleum said the private supplier VINP Distilleries cannot claim an absolute right to supply ethanol based on its designed production capacity, to the detriment of other suppliers, as allocations have been made to vendors. PTI PKS RHL
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