New Delhi: India has sought 60 more days from an arbitration Tribunal at London to respond to a claim of about $ 6 billion as compensation from GE and Bechtel, the foreign promoters of now-defunct Dabhol Power project in Maharashtra.

Certain complications, ahead of the Sep 30, 2004 deadline for filing the affidavit by India before the Tribunal, had developed as its British solicitor firm Evershed withdrew from the case saying it had earlier represented GE in another case.

Confirming the move, Attorney General Milon Banerjee brushed aside the apprehensions expressed in certain quarters about the preparations by India to put up a strong defence in the arbitration case.

"Everything is under control. We have put an English counsel in place and our preparations to defend the case for India are going well," he told sources.

Meanwhile, Som Mandal, chief of the Indian solicitor firm Fox and Mandal, which came into the picture after the new Government took charge at the Centre, said he has already sent the communication to the tribunal, seeking more time.

"I have also spoken to the British Solicitors Simpson, Thatcher and Barett, who represent GE and Bechtel," he said adding, "I am confident of getting more time to file our response."

GE and Bechtel, who joined the erstwhile Enron Corporation for promoting the first fast-track counter-guarantee project in Maharashtra, had filed the claim blaming India for not taking enough steps to prevent closure of the project resulting in a violation of the Indo-Mauritian Bilateral Investment Promotion Agreement.