Top space scientists disgraced

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Govt knew of Devas deal at every stage, says Madhavan Nair
Divya Gandhi
BANGALORE : Indicted over the controversial 2005 Antrix-Devas agreement signed during his tenure as ISRO chairman, G. G Madhavan Nair. Photo courtesy : The Hindu Madhavan Nair told The Hindu in an interview at his residence on January 30 that several people within the government — not least from the Prime Minister's Office — were well aware of the details of the deal at every stage.

Mid-2005, the Space Commission “cleared” the construction of two satellites for a private company, said Mr. Nair. A note prepared by the Department of Space for the Cabinet Committee on Security in February 2011 said the Space Commission and the Cabinet had not been informed of the Antrix-Devas agreement when their approval for building GSAT-6 and GSAT-6A were sought.

“In the case of GSAT 6 and 6A, there was a clear statement in the note to the Space Commission and the Cabinet to say that the major part of the transponder capacity was to be used by private operators. We do not name the private operator because it could have changed,” said Mr. Nair.

The Space Commission, which is chaired by the ISRO chief, comprised the Cabinet Secretary, the Principal Secretary to the PMO, the National Security Adviser, Member (Finance), and the Additional Secretary, Department of Space, he added.

Under the 2005 contract between Antrix Corporation (ISRO's commercial wing) and the Bangalore-based Devas Multimedia, the latter was allowed exclusive use of 70 MHz of the scarce S-band spectrum over a 20-year period for its digital multimedia services; and ISRO was to build two satellites for the company. As the contract was signed without a competitive bidding process, questions were raised about the preferential spectrum allocation. CAG's preliminary estimates placed the loss to the exchequer at over Rs. 2 lakh crore.

The contract was cleared “collectively” by the Board of Antrix which had approved “hundreds” of similar contracts, including those with major players in DTH, said Mr. Nair. The Antrix Board included Member (Finance), who is accountable directly to the Finance Department and also the Joint Secretary of the Department of Space, he said.

“Discussed four times”

Moreover, a Technical Coordination Group appointed by the INSAT Coordination Committee (ICC) to look into the technical aspects of the project, discussed the Devas deal at least four times, he said. This working group — that assessed the frequency used and the judiciousness of spectrum utilisation — comprised representatives from the Department of Telecommunication and the Department of Science and Technology, he said. The ICC, an interdepartmental government agency, was constituted in the 1980s to facilitate the allocation of transponders to users.

The contract with Devas Multimedia was consistent with the satellite communication policy that encouraged private operators to use space-based services, he said. The contract was to work on a ‘first come, first served' basis, he said, when asked about the lack of a bidding process and the apparent privileging of one company.

Mr. Nair said he would appeal to the government to revoke the order barring him from holding government posts over the Antrix-Devas deal. Mr. Nair, who recently stepped down as the chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT-Patna, said: “I am not looking for a government job. But I see [the order] as having tarnished my image.”

He was waiting for a response to his application under the Right to Information Act for the two reports of the two committees set up under the PMO to look into alleged irregularities in the contract. Mr. Nair said he had not yet received the order of January 13 from the Department of Space that banned him and three senior ISRO scientists from holding government posts.
‘Witch-hunt'

“This is a violation of due process. [When there is an alleged irregularity] the first thing you do is inform the party and give them an opportunity to explain. Without any such process, sending the decision summarily is unheard of,” said Mr. Nair, describing the order as “nothing short of a witch-hunt.” (Courtesy : The Hindu)

Madhavan Nair, 3 other space scientists disgraced

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.