“Article 4 of the production sharing contract (PSC) makes it mandatory for RIL to relinquish the areas as prescribed. There cannot be any discretionary space in it. The minister cannot twist the provisions of the PSC according to his own interpretation,” says retired economic affairs secretary E.A.S. Sarma, who has consistently been raising the red flag, questioning the lax implementation of PSC where Reliance is concerned. The dangers of any laxity, Sarma points out, would lead to diluting the sanctity of PSC. Already, Sarma points to a news item stating that Cairn has demanded that 8,000 sq km of the Barmer area relinquished by that company be returned to them as it contained valuable hydrocarbon resources.