Jio seeks judicial intervention

New Delhi/Mumbai: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), through its subsidiary Reliance JioInfocomm Limited (RJIL), in a petition mentioned to be filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday, has sought the urgent intervention of government authorities to bring a complete stop to the illegal acts of vandalism by miscreants. These acts of violence have endangered the lives of thousands of its employees and caused damage and disruption to the vital communications infrastructure, sales and service outlets run by its subsidiaries in the two States, RIL said.

"The miscreants indulging in vandalism have been instigated and aided by vested interests and our business rivals. Taking advantage of the ongoing farmers' agitation near the national capital, these vested interests have launched an incessant, malicious and motivated vilification campaign against Reliance, which has absolutely no basis in truth," the statement said.

"The falsehood of the campaign becomes crystal clear from the following irrefutable facts, which we have placed before the High Court. These facts establish that Reliance has nothing whatsoever to do with the three farm laws currently debated in the country, and in no way benefits from them. As such, the sole nefarious purpose of linking the name of Reliance to these laws is to harm our businesses and damage our reputation," it added.

"Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), Reliance JioInfocomm Limited (RJIL), or any other affiliate of our parent company, i.e., Reliance Industries Limited have not done any 'corporate' or 'contract' farming in the past, and have absolutely no plans to enter this business," RIL said.

"Neither Reliance nor any of our subsidiaries has purchased any agricultural land, directly or indirectly, in Punjab/Haryana or anywhere else in India, for the purpose of 'corporate' or 'contract' farming. We have absolutely no plans to do so", it added.

As per the statement, Reliance Retail is an unmatched leader in organised retail business in India. It retails products of all categories including food grains and staples, fruits and vegetables, items of daily use, apparel, medicines, electronic products of various brands belonging to independent manufacturers and suppliers in the country. It does not purchase any food grains directly from farmers. It has never entered into long-term procurement contracts to gain unfair advantage over farmers or sought that its suppliers' buy from farmers at less than remunerative prices, nor will it ever do so, RIL said. "We at Reliance have immense gratitude and the greatest respect for India's 'kisans', who are the 'ANNA DATA' of 1.3 billion Indians. Reliance and its affiliates are committed to doing everything to enrich and empower them. As customers of their services, we believe in building a strong and equal partnership with Indian farmers on the basis of shared prosperity, inclusive development and an equitable New India", RIL added.