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| Has ISRO been defying the governmen |
| S-band deal: Has ISRO been defying the government
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| INDIA
, 11-February-2011
3:41:26 AM |
| After an embarrassing disclosure over valuable S-Band spectrum being virtually gifted to a private company by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the government has set up a review committee to examine the deal. (Read: In official note, ISRO explains S-Band deal)
Yesterday, ISRO chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan said the deal is in the process of being cancelled. But given that different ministries and objections began raising objections to the contract more than three years ago, the government now finds itself struggling to explain why it's taking so long to pull the plug.
In 2005, the commercial arm of ISRO, Antrix, signed a contract with Devas Multimedia, to build two satellites on which Devas would lease transponders in India. Bundled into the deal was 70 MHz of S-band spectrum which was priced at 1000 crores - a sweetheart deal.
Because ISRO reports directly to the Prime Minister's Office, the controversy - which erupted in the media this week - has been especially worrying for the government
The explanations offered so far for a contract loaded in favour of Devas have been awkward at best. Dr Radhakrishnan said yesterday that after it became clear that spectrum was needed by national agencies, in 2009 the Space Commission began reviewing the deal and in July 2010, a decision was taken to annul the contract.
Devas says it is totally unaware of this. In a statement today, the company stressed, "Devas has never been informed by DOS/ISRO/Antrix at any time prior to February 8, 2011 that the Agreement was under review since December 8, 2009 and even to date we have received no official notices. On the contrary Devas was provided written confirmation that all required approvals had been obtained from the highest levels for giving effect to the Agreement and repeatedly assured that the delays in delivery of the satellite capacity were only on account of technical issues."
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