<p>"I remember that this issue came up in 2010 and it was decided to cancel the tender," Chavan, the former Science and Technology minister, told reporters in Sangli.<br /><br />"In 2010, when I was member of the (Space) Commission, this issue came up. I recall that some decisions on the issue were taken in 2005.<br /><br />"The Commission had decided to cancel (the tender)... I am sure it must have been cancelled. But I am not aware of this..because I did not handle the issue," he said.<br /><br />"This issue came up before us when I was a member of the Commission but I did not handle the space department issues," Chavan added.<br /><br />Recent reports said the CAG has been scrutinising a 2005 deal between Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and Devas multimedia.<br /><br />Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister's Office had denied media reports alleging that the government had incurred losses in allocation of S-band spectrum, saying no decision has been taken on the issue and hence charges of revenue loss were without basis.<br /><br />Media reports had stated that the Department of Space, which comes directly under the Prime Minister, had allocated 70 MHz of S-Band spectrum to Devas Multimedia at Rs 1,000 crore for 20 years. According to the reports, the actual value of this was estimated to be around Rs 2 lakh crore.<br /></p>
<p>"I remember that this issue came up in 2010 and it was decided to cancel the tender," Chavan, the former Science and Technology minister, told reporters in Sangli.<br /><br />"In 2010, when I was member of the (Space) Commission, this issue came up. I recall that some decisions on the issue were taken in 2005.<br /><br />"The Commission had decided to cancel (the tender)... I am sure it must have been cancelled. But I am not aware of this..because I did not handle the issue," he said.<br /><br />"This issue came up before us when I was a member of the Commission but I did not handle the space department issues," Chavan added.<br /><br />Recent reports said the CAG has been scrutinising a 2005 deal between Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and Devas multimedia.<br /><br />Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister's Office had denied media reports alleging that the government had incurred losses in allocation of S-band spectrum, saying no decision has been taken on the issue and hence charges of revenue loss were without basis.<br /><br />Media reports had stated that the Department of Space, which comes directly under the Prime Minister, had allocated 70 MHz of S-Band spectrum to Devas Multimedia at Rs 1,000 crore for 20 years. According to the reports, the actual value of this was estimated to be around Rs 2 lakh crore.<br /></p>