JOIN USTata Sky, one of the private direct-to-home broadcast service providers, was allocated satellite capacity “out of turn” by the Department of Space (DoS), ignoring other operators ahead of Tata Sky in the order of preference.
Moreover, four additional benefits, including a couple of financial ones, were exclusively given to Tata Sky as such benefits were never offered to other DTH service providers who leased Indian Space Research Organisation’s satellite transponders, the Comptroller and Auditor General has found.
It happened when then chairman of the Tata Group (Ratan Tata) was one of the non-functional directors on the board of directors of Antrix, the commercial arm of ISRO. G Madhavan Nair headed ISRO between 2003-2009.
“Although there might be no direct impact on the decision making process within Antrix, allocation of Ku band transponders of INSAT-4A on exclusive basis to Tata Sky does raise the question of conflict of interest,” CAG says in its report, tabled in Parliament on Friday.
INSAT 4A was launched in December 2005. Tata Sky, which signed an agreement with the DOS only a month before the launch, was allocated the capacity ignoring four operators, including Doordarshan that inked a pact with the DOS almost 20 months earlier. Other three players were Dish TV, Sun DTH and Reliance.
The DOS committed the exclusive first right of refusal to Tata Sky for using the Ku band transponders (for DTH service) at the prime 83 degrees East orbital slot, which was advantageous to the operator as it could uniformly access the length and breadth of the country. When DOS launched GSAT-10 in September 2012 and placed it in the same orbital slot, the space outfit proposed to swap 12 transponders of INSAT-4A with that of GSAT 10 because the older satellite was running on reduced power.
The company initially agreed with the arrangement, but backed out later claiming it was looking for additional satellite capacity with a foreign satellite as a long term engagement. But fearing litigation from Tata Sky, DOS did not allocate 12 transponders of GSAT-10 to any other user.
The DOS not only allocated the satellite capacity to Tata Sky out of turn, but also accorded exclusive rights to a private party in violation of the SATCOM policy, the audit watchdog says.
DH News Service