Reliance Energy chairman and managing director Anil Ambani has asked all the six directors, who quit last week, to continue to serve the firm before a final decision is taken on their resignations.

In an e-mail to the Reliance Energy employees, Anil, who is locked in a bitter feud with elder brother Mukesh Ambani over the control of Reliance Industries, said the firm's board would meet soon to consider the resignations.

"Last Thursday, six directors of Reliance Energy tendered their resignations to the board. This development, widely commented upon in the media, has left all of you with a sense of anguish and uncertainty," he said.

"I fully understand and appreciate these concerns. The board of directors of Reliance Energy is meeting, in the next few days, to consider these resignations.

"In the meanwhile, I have requested each of the six directors to continue to serve the company, and to carry out their assigned roles and responsibilities, as before."

Shares of Reliance Energy were badly rocked last weekend when the company announced the resignation of six of its directors amid the raging ownership controversy.

Reliance Energy, involved in generation, transmission and distribution of power, informed the Bombay Stock Exchange Thursday that six of its directors had submitted their resignations to the company. It didn't give any reason.

Anil told the 25,000 employees of Reliance Energy that he was one of their colleagues and like them he too did not have personal shareholding in the company.

"For me, professionalism is a value system, a state of mind, and above all, a culture of respect for all," he said.

"In all our endeavours, we must always keep uppermost in our minds the best interests of our millions of customers and deliver the highest standards of quality, reliability, competitiveness and customer care to them.

"The opportunities and the challenges in the power sector are enormous," Anil wrote in his e-mail.

"I am confident that, together, we - each one of us - will work with commitment, dedication and devotion to realise the vision and dreams of our beloved founder Dhirubhai Ambani."

Mukesh, 47, is the chairman and managing director of the flagship Reliance Industries while Anil, 45, holds the vice chairman's office. The younger sibling is also chairman and managing director of Reliance Energy.

The resignation of Reliance Energy directors came in the wake of a recent admission to a TV channel by Mukesh that there were "ownership issues" in the Reliance group that logs Rs.800 billion in annual sales. 

Shares of the group flagship Reliance Industries fell 2.2 percent to Rs.503.55 Thursday while Reliance Energy ended a whopping 5.8 percent lower at Rs.549.10. The markets were closed Friday.

--Indo-Asian News Service