Contrary to the claims being made by Devas Multimedia that any decision on its controversial deal with the commercial arm of ISRO — Antrix Corporation — will be taken after the submission of the report of the two-man committee formed by the Prime Minister on the issue, government sources said it was up to the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) to take a final call as the annulment of deal had already been approved by the Space Commission and the Law Ministry.
After the Space Commission meeting here on Saturday, its Chairman K. Radhakrishnan, who is also Secretary, Department of Space (DoS), and heads both ISRO and Antrix, said a detailed note on the issue had been given to the CCS and it would take the final call.
The high-power committee has been asked to look into any lapses in the signing of the deal that led to the current controversy.
However, the Bangalore-based private firm said: “Devas Multimedia is pleased to note that the Space Commission, at its meeting on February 12, 2011, has decided to await the report of the High Power Committee. We will cooperate with the government in participating in the forthcoming reviews and are committed to provide any requested information or clarifications, as stated earlier.”
Keywords: S-band deal, ISRO, Devas Multimedia, Antrix, Department of Space
How is it that the government became aware of the adverse security implications of the Antrix-Devas deal only after the details of the deal were exposed by the media? Even in the unlikely event of it extricating itself from the deal paying or not paying huge financial compensation to Devas using security concerns as a handle, the gvernment will still be anwerable to its original sin of not so far being concerned with the security implications of the deal.
Please Email the Editor