New Delhi:
Just a week after the government barred four scientists including former chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), G Madhavan Nair, from holding any official position over their alleged role in the controversial Antrix-Devas deal, ISRO has now justified the move, saying there were "serious procedural lapses" in the controversial contract.
The space agency has released parts of a report prepared by a high-level committee - that probed the deal - that has seriously indicted Mr Nair and others, saying the agreement "seems to be lacking in transparency and due diligence". "There have not only been serious administrative and procedural lapses but also suggestion of collusive behaviour on the part of certain individuals and accordingly, responsibilities have to be fixed for taking action".
Mr Nair, the former ISRO boss, is under the scanner for his alleged role in the sale of the precious S-band spectrum by ISRO's commercial arm Antrix at inexplicably low prices to a private firm Devas in 2005.
The five-member committee that was set up in May last year and was headed by former Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Pratyush Sinha, in its report, says that that the terms of the contract "were heavily loaded in favour of Devas". The report also says that the "approval process for the deal was riddled with incomplete and inaccurate information" with no clearance obtained from the legal cells of the Department of Space and the Finance Ministry - mandatory for any international agreement by any department of the Indian government.
The committee has further recommended action against Mr Nair as also the three scientists - A Bhaskaranarayana, K R Sridhara Murthi and K N Shankara all of whom have since retired.
Mr Nair hit back, accusing ISRO of being selective in revealing facts. "Whatever bits and pieces are being released shows that they don't want to reveal the full facts...the portions which are quoted from Pratyush Sinha committee are inaccurate and inconsistent," he said. The former ISRO chief had last week alleged victimisation, with the government action prompted him to say, "Am I worse than a terrorist?" He had also suggested that he would consider taking the government to court over the action.
Ironically, the latest report is at complete variance with another that was prepared by a High Powered Committee constituted by the government in February last year. The probe panel headed by former cabinet secretary B K Chaturvedi and scientist Roddam Narasimha, and which had no member from the Department of Space, categorically concluded that "concerns on cheap selling of spectrum have no basis whatsoever...Space spectrum is not comparable to terrestrial spectrum". This suggests that the scarce S-band spectrum was not sold at throwaway prices to Devas as alleged and that the company still needed to pay the Department of Telecom additional licence fees for use of spectrum on the ground like any other cellular service operator.
In 2005, ISRO's commercial arm, Antrix, agreed to build two satellites and provide scarce S-band spectrum for Devas, which planned to offer commercial broadband services. Devas was told to pay Rs. 1000 crore - a sweetheart deal that, according to some estimates, meant the government would incur losses worth two lakh crore rupees. Media reports rocketed the deal into controversy last year, especially embarrassing for the government since ISRO reports directly to the Prime Minister's Office. In May last year, the Prime Minister set up a three-member committee to examine the agreement between Antrix and Devas after media reports exposed the problematic contract.
Mr Nair blames his successor at ISRO, K Radhakrishnan, for misrepresenting the facts. "He (Radhakrishnan) has misled the Government on the whole issue (the controversial Devas deal). He is the key person who worked behind this; he misled and mis-communicated to the Government and he has taken action", alleged Mr Nair. Along with him, the three former ISRO colleagues who have allegedly been indicted for the Devas deal are K Bhaskaranarayana who was Scientific Secretary at ISRO; K N Shankara, former Director of the ISRO satellite centre; and K R Sridharamurthi, who was the Managing Director of Antrix.