In a bid to restore his reputation following the controversy over the Antrix-Devas deal, the former ISRO chief, G. Madhavan Nair, wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday to repeal the order barring him from government posts.
He had, in his letter, asked the Prime Minister to quash the order and conduct an inquiry into the matter, Mr. Nair said. The order of January 13 from the Department of Space called for barring Mr. Nair and three senior scientists from government office for alleged irregularities in the agreement signed in 2005 under Mr. Nair's tenure as ISRO's chairman.
In an interview to The Hindu on Sunday Mr. Nair, said he “is not looking for a government job” but wanted to set right his “tarnished image.”
He added that he was waiting to receive the reports of two high-level teams under the Right to Information Act set up under the PMO to look into alleged irregularities in the contract.
Most recently, C.N.R. Rao, head of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, reacted strongly to a statement by the Minister of State in the PMO V. Narayanasamy, who said the order was meant to “send a strong message” to the scientific community that no wrongdoing would be tolerated.
