New Delhi, Oct 27 : Just a few days before his term ends as the country's oil regulator, V. K. Sibal has applied for early retirement from his parent company Oil India. His move comes even as the ministry has sought a three-month service extension for him.

According to sources in the company, Director General of Hydrocarbons Sibal applied for early retirement from where he had been on deputation with the federal government. A decision has yet to be taken on this, a senior official said, requesting anonymity.    

The oil regulator had come under a cloud after allegations of a bias in favour of the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries in the various approvals given regarding the natural gas fields in the Krishna-Godavari basin.    

Sibal, whose term comes to an end Oct 31, could not be reached for comment. He was up for extension, but his case is being examined by the Central Vigilance Commission. The commission has also asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to look into the matter.    

He came under spotlight after the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Natural Resources accused him of unfairly approving a huge hike in the capital expenditure on Krishna-Godavari basin even though the estimate on output was only doubled from 40 million units a day.    

In a petition in the Supreme Court, the Anil Ambani group contended that in order to make huge profits from the Krishna-Godavari gas fields, Reliance Industries had hiked the capital expenditure from $2.4 billion to $8.8 billion.    

"This astronomical rise is not genuine and has been wrongly approved by the director general of hydrocarbons and the ministry of petroleum and natural gas," the petition said, also alleging conflict of interest in the matter.

Sibal, however, denied any wrongdoing on his part or that he had accepted any undue favour as alleged by the Anil Ambani Group, such as a stay for his daughters at the premises in Mumbai owned by the associates of Reliance Industries.    

"My reply is published in the newspapers. This is all of 2005 when my daughter went missing for two days during the Mumbai floods. If it was all a favour, then why did we pay Rs. 300,000? I have got a copy of the cheque," Sibal had told IANS. (IANS)