Michael Hudson McHugh, the ex-Australian judge appointed as arbitrator by SC

The Supreme Court of India on 29 April 2014 appointed former judge of the High Court of Australia, Michael Hudson McHugh as the third arbitrator to resolve the dispute between the Central government and Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on KG basin.

McHugh was named as the Chairman of the Arbitral Tribunal after the apex Court on 2 April 2014 withdrawn the appointment of James Spigelman, ex-Chief Justice and LG of New South Wales, Australia. His name was withdrawn after the Court was informed by the Centre that his name was mentioned in the list of names proposed by the Reliance group for appointment as an independent arbitrator.

On the issue of appointment of the independent arbitrator as the Chairman of the Arbitral Tribunal was passed by Justice Nijjar on 31 March 2014. The other two members of the tribunal are former Chief Justices of India, SP Bharucha and VN Khare.
• Former Justice Bharucha was nominated by Reliance as its arbitrator
• Former Justice Khare nomination was chosen by Centre as its arbitrator

The decision of appointment of an international arbitrator as the Chairman was taken by the Supreme Court for adjudication of dispute that exist between Reliance and the government on the issue of recovery of cost for developing the country's key natural gas field in KG basin.