JOIN USEx-Isro chief condemns panel
With the Centre going on the affirmative about probable criminal charges against a person/persons indicted by the two probe committees in the Antrix-Devas deal, former Isro Chairman Madhavan Nair said he will be happy to stick his neck out if the government thinks a crime has been committed and wants to hang him for it.
He said that his concern is for the larger good of the space agency and not individualistic.
Speaking to Deccan Herald at his residence, Nair, however, condemned the Pratyush Sinha-led committee report, saying it did not comprise anybody with technical knowledge and that appointing Isro Chairman K Radhakrishnan in the committee despite him being the complainant is in violation of norms. “You pick up any rule book in the country. There will not be an instance where a complainant is part of the committee inquiring into his/her complaint. This probably explains why the findings are biased.”
Countering the criticism that the government/cabinet was not kept in the loop, he said: “Even if we had sent the proposal to the cabinet, given the situation then, it would have been cleared without any objections.” However, on why then, the proposal was not sent, he said “...because the rules did not prescribe it.”
Minister of State in PMO, V Narayanasamy told Deccan Herald: “...He (Nair) has also claimed that he was not provided a chance to represent himself but he was allowed to do that and also the committee reports are public, there is enough in them to answer all the complaints.” Both the reports will also be put up on PMO’s website.
Nair, reacting to the reports highlighting the financial non-liability of the Devas deal, said “The deal would have provided 13.8 per cent IRR (investments versus receipts and returns) to the government, one of the highest in the satellite industry.”
The Chaturvedi-Roddam Narasimha committee though, has noted that if the $300 million project–which was scrapped in early February, 2011 had been successful, “This left very little spectrum with Isro for any ‘strategic’ or societal use in the future and for other multimedia mobile service operations.”
It notes that any other use in the band, in the backdrop of this deal, would have reduced efficiency as there would have been interference of signals.
Nair, defending the decisions taken, said “Giving Devas the said MHz of spectrum was not the end of it. We had two more slots (160 MHz) available and could have been used when necessary.
Moreover, the defence sector has not even sent a pencil sketch of the assessed demand for this till date. These reasons have been brought in to cover up the initial wrongdoing in banning us.” Noting that the spectrum allocation for Devas “seems disproportionately large given that in the US, Korea and Japan, only 20-25 MHz of spectrum in this band has been used for similar services,” the committee has contested that the defence requirements of the country was not fully considered while allocating the spectrum.
The committee further observes: “While the agreement with Devas does not indicate any short-selling of spectrum, it does, however, indicate certain financial and strategic gaps. Chairman, Antrix Board/Secretary, DOS, Director SATCOM, Isro Member (Finance), Space COmmission were primarily responsible for the lapse. Chairman Isro/Antrix Board who finalised several areas of the agreement must also share the responsibility for some of the gaps.”
It is noteworthy that Nair has repeatedly said that the Chaturvedi report has done a “wonderful” job.