NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries made "unjust" gains by pumping natural gas that flowed from ONGC ’s adjoining block but a proper inquiry is needed to ascertain if both companies knew about the connectivity of reservoirs and chose to conceal the information for years, an official panel has ruled.The panel, set up after ONGC alleged that Reliance had illegally taken away the state firm’s gas, said compensation for this "unjust enrichment" of Reliance must go to the government because the national exploration company did not own the resource and, curiously, did little to extract it for a very long time — a lapse that merits proper scrutiny.It said RIL "prima facie" knew about connectivity of the reservoirs of the two companies by 2003 while ONGC appeared to have had some idea about it in 2007 but did not do anything about it for six years."The committee believes that the allegations of prior knowledge on the part of both RIL and ONGC must be enquired into further, with particular emphasis laid upon the failure of both parties to present the information they had to the DGH (Directorate General of Hydrocarbons) at the time they allegedly obtained the information," the report said.The report was presented to Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday. "The government will take appropriate action on this issue. We will look into his recommendations and take a call by the end of September," Pradhan told reporters after receiving the report from AP Shah , a retired judge.The report said it was "particularly disconcerting" that RIL did not inform the regulator about its appraisal report of 2003, which appears to show that reservoirs were connected. It has recommended that the government should introduce proper disclosure norms and penalties for concealing information.It said RIL should have approached the government for joint development of the field once it was known that the reservoirs were connected."Since RIL did not pursue such a step, and it had not been given the migrated gas as a gift or largesse, its actions had no lawful justification and amounted to unjust enrichment," the report said. No comment was available from Reliance at the time of going to press.The report said the government should decide on the compensation it should get for the gas that flowed into RIL’s block, and ONGC had no basis to make any claim."On the question of unjust enrichment, the Committee concludes that the Government of India, and not ONGC, is entitled to claim restitution from RIL for the unjust benefit it received and unfairly retained. ONGC has no locus standi to bring a tortious claim against RIL for trespass/conversion since it does not have any ownership rights or possessory interest in the natural gas," it said."The Committee also notes that the question of quantification of unfair enrichment is to be decided by the Government of India, with the principle that whatever benefit RIL received in terms of the migrated gas is liable to be returned to the Government of India."It also questioned ONGC’s failure to develop its own gas field. "The Committee further believes that the role of ONGC in the Indian oil and natural gas sector must be assessed with great scrutiny. The long periods of alleged inactivity on the part of ONGC in this case particularly must be examined further."The report said there was practically no scope for development or further production by ONGC in the relevant fields. "Due to the fact that only meagre reserves are left in the relevant fields, there is no question of contemplating any kind of joint development, unitisation, or gas balancing," the report said.The oil ministry had appointed the Shah panel last December following a court order that mandated the government to help resolve the corporate dispute within six months of the submission of the report on the issue by DeGolyer and MacNaughton (D&M), a USbased consultant.The consultant, hired by ONGC and Reliance to technically examine the dispute, said in its report last November that gas had indeed migrated from ONGC’s field to Reliance’s during the period of dispute. The panel, whose term was extended twice, had been asked to "quantify the unfair enrichment, if any", to Reliance Industries, suggest measures to prevent unfair enrichment in future and recommend ways to compensate ONGC and the government.The Shah panel also had to consider the acts of omission and commission, if any, on the part of all stakeholders, including RIL, ONGC, DGH and the government."I have submitted a comprehensive report covering all the terms of reference. It also has the future course of action," said Justice (retired) AP Shah, who presented his report to the oil minister. Shah also briefed the minister about the report, following which Pradhan said the panel’s findings confirm that the gas had migrated from ONGC’s field to Reliance’s.Analysts said the dispute may not end with the government’s action on the report as the two parties could take legal action after the government takes a decision.RIL had objected to the government’s move to appoint the Shah panel. The company and partner Niko had questioned the government’s authority to appoint a panel to resolve the dispute and refused to cooperate with the committee, arguing the dispute could be resolved only by arbitration and not government intervention.