From Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI : On January 24, a day before the Republic
Day, G Madhavan Nair and three other top space
scientists were disgraced and declared persona non
grata for all Central jobs following probe into the
controversial Antrix-Devas deal for allotting S-band
spectrum.
The disgrace comes following a news leak about a PMO
order of January 13, signed by Sandhya Venugopal Sharma,
Director in the Department of Space.
The Department of Space (DoS) order, copies of which
were sent to all Central government departments, chief
secretaries of the states and the National Security
Adviser, said that Devas, a private company was allotted
scarce S band spectrum by ISRO allegedly in violation of
rules. The contract with Devas was signed during the
tenure of Dr. Nair as the chairman of ISRO.
The government action comes after considering a report
of a high-powered committee (HPC) that went into the
Devas deal and that of another panel which examined the
HPC report.
The Prime Minister had on May 31, last year, constituted
a five-member high-level team under the chairmanship of
former Central Vigilance Commissioner Pratyush Sinha to
examine aspects of the agreement between Antrix and
Devas.
Dr Nair who was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan
exactly three years ago for steering India’s lunar probe
Chandrayaan-I, into an exclusive club, described the
news as “sad and devastating”, saying he and three other
retired Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
scientists heard
of the order, marked “secret” by the Department of Space
(DoS) to chief secretaries of states, from the media and
not the government.
Besides Nair, K Bhaskaranarayana, former scientific
secretary at ISRO, K. R. Sridharamurthi, former managing
director of Antrix Corporation Ltd, the commercial arm
of ISRO, and K. N. Shankara, former director of the ISRO
satellite centre, have been penalised by the DoS, an
ISRO official said.
Reacting to the news Nair said that he plans to move SC
on the row over allotment of S-band spectrum to Devas.
He described the move as a “witch-hunt“ and threatened
to move court seeking relief.
Nair squarely blamed the present ISRO chief K
Radhakrishnan for the action and pointed at what he
called the “evil designs” of Dr K Radhakrishnan. He said
that “the chairman has spoken half-truths while giving
inputs on the case to the government. He has not
presented the facts correctly. There’s some personal
motive behind it.
Where was the need to rewrite the Suresh Committee
report (on the Antrix-Devas deal)? He’s the most
technically competent person in ISRO.” “So, why was his
report rewritten and submitted to the space commission
by the secretary (Dr Radhakrishnan),” he asked.
The order states that the quartet should not be
considered for any positions for their role in the
controversial Antrix-Devas deal on allotment of S-band
spectrum. None has been served the order signed by
Sandhya Venugopal Sharma, director, DOS.
Nair received a separate order terminating his
appointment to the Vikram Sarabhai chair though he was
originally appointed for a tenure of four years.
He must also give up the position of chairman of the
board of governors of IIT, Patna.
The order has not specified any action against the four
bureaucrats who were also reportedly indicted by the
high-power committee headed by former CVC Pratyush Sinha.
Space scientists wondered why technocrats were singled
out for punitive action while bureaucrats managed to
walk free. “I did not expect things to come to such a
pass in ISRO,” Nair said.
Nair quits Patna IIT board presidentship
NEW DELHI : On January 27
Dr G Madhavan Nair voluntarily stepped down from the
post of the chairman of the board of governors of Indian
Institute of Technology, Patna.
The
government has decided to bar G Madhavan Nair and three
other former ISRO scientists from any government work
for their alleged lapses in the Antrix-Devas deal. “I
came here to say goodbye. I am voluntarily stepping
down. This college is very close to my heart and it’s my
moral responsibility to give them the message. I have
nothing to do with the government. It has hurt me very
badly. I have not been told anything by the government
so far,” Nair told a reporter on phone from Patna.
Sources present in the meeting said Nair refused to
chair the meeting of the board but was persuaded to stay
on as he has been associated with the college
for a long time.
Nair said he has filed an application under the Right to
Information Act and has sought the two enquiry committee
reports. “ I am sure the government will not refuse the
request. After studying the reports we will take
appropriate action. It’s a question of my prestige and
it has to be restored,” Nair said.
“We do not
know what are the terms of the committees, what are
recommendations. We do not know what process they have
followed to get such a unilateral
decision secured from the government,” Nair said.
In
February 2011, the UPA government scrapped the
controversial contract between Antrix Corporation and
Bangalore-based Devas Multimedia for the lease of space
segment in S-band. The government had said that it could
not grant S-band spectrum to anyone including Antrix due
to strategic reasons.
BACKGROUNDER
In February 2011, the high level review committee formed
to look into aspects of the Antrix-Devas S-band spectrum
deal prepared a questionnaire which was given to almost
all members of ISRO, including the four blacklisted
scientists.
But Nair claimed that the the 15 questions looked no
better than a sample survey conducted by college
students. “The questionnaire asked no specific questions
regarding the controversial deal nor did it serve any
purpose in any sense. We answered the 15 questions but
we never got a reply from the committee after that,” he
said, adding that the the four scientists were never
given a chance to present their version before the
review team.
“I am aging and do not want to take any step in haste.
My activities in the future cannot be stopped by
dictatorial orders. Give me some time to think of what
to do next,” Nair said.
At the centre of the controversy, lies a 2005 deal
between Devas and Antrix that allowed Devas exclusive
rights to 90 per cent of transponders in Isro's Rs 269
crore GSAT-6 satellite for 12 years. In 2007, the same
option was extended to Rs 147 crore GSAT-6A satellite
whose launch cost was Rs 350 crore.
Isro’s top brass was accused of keeping the existence of
the Antrix-Devas deal under wraps at the time of seeking
approval for both satellites from the Space Commission
and the Union Cabinet headed by the prime minister.