By IANS,
New Delhi: The government Thursday said the panel probing the controversial deal between the Indian space agency’s commercial arm Antrix and private firm Devas for S-band spectrum, high value and scarce radiowaves, will submit its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “in a very short time”.
The government also said it had already sent a notice about the termination of the deal to the private company.
“A high-powered panel was appointed on February 10 to review the agreement between Devas and Antrix on technical, financial and other aspects and also fix responsibility and suggest corrective measures. The report will be submitted in very short time to the prime minister,” Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayansamy said during question hour in the Rajya Sabha.
The government had set up a two-member committee of B.K. Chaturvedi, Planning Commission member, and Roddam Narsimha, Space Commission member, to review various aspects of the Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation, and Devas Multimedia.
The deal triggered a major controversy after the media, citing the government auditor’s findings, reported that the agreement for handing over 70 Mhz of S-Band spectrum to the private firm for Rs.1,000 crore had resulted in a loss of Rs.2 lakh crore to the nation.
He also said that a notice was sent Feb 25 to Devas to annul the agreement.
Narayansamy said Antrix had entered into an agreement with Devas in 2005 for launch of two satellites and consequent leasing of S-band spectrum.
BJP member Prakash Javedakar wanted to know if the minister in charge of space was present in the Space Commission meeting when a decision was taken to annul the agreement.
Ram Gopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was present in the house, should explain how the agreement that dealt with allocation of scarce S-band spectrum happened without his knowledge.
Narayanasamy said that following complaints and keeping in view defence and societal needs, the Cabinet Committee on Security had Feb 17 decided to annul the agreement.