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Nair slams flawed Devas probe report
A day after ISRO made public the high-level committee reports which found administrative and procedural lapses in the 2005 ISRO deal between Antrix- Devas, former chairman G Madhavan Nair slammed the country’s mainstay space research agency for releasing a convenient and selective portion of the reports.
He told The Pioneer that it was completely unfair to release a mere portion of the report on the deal. Nair also said that the report was full of inconsistencies and inaccuracies. He said: “I am shocked to see only select parts of the report. Making public a portion of the report is clear indication to justify themselves for whatever wrongdoing they have done. This is a cowardice act.”
It is noteworthy that even though they have found procedural and administrative lapses in the deal, they did not term the whole thing as a scam. Both the committees have pointed out that the Antrix board did not inform the Space commission and Union Cabinet of the agreement on the deal while seeking approval for the satellites. “I am not worried at all. I have not done anything wrong. I will examine in detail all the points made in the report. I will respond to them technically and analytically for all of them,” Nair asserted.
The 68-year-old renowned space scientist and former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair and three other scientists have been barred by the Union Government from taking up any Government job based on the two-member panel report over Antrix- Devas deal when Nair was the chairman of ISRO in 2005. However, Nair directly blamed present ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan for the misgivings. Nair also consistently maintained his position seeking a thorough probe into the whole controversy. He had also written to the PM in this regard.
Nair questioned the second panel report saying the committee had not given them an opportunity to defend themselves. “How did the second panel come to any conclusion without inquiring with us? No chargesheet was presented to us. No chargesheet was communicated but conclusions were drawn. Is this how an enquiry is conducted? How can the present chairman be a complainant and an investigator too,” he asked.
It was on Saturday that the Department of Space made public the report of the high power committee headed by BK Chaturvedi and professor Roddam Narasimha and conclusion and recommendation of the five-member committee headed by former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Pratyush Sinha. The reports indicted Nair, A Bhaskaranarayana, KR Sridhara Murthi and K N Shankara all of whom have retired.
Bhaskarnarayana, former Scientific Secretary at ISRO, said he would look into all details before taking any action. “We have to make inquires and see what options are in front of us before we plan the future course of action.”
The Pratyush Sinha committee, set up on May 31 last year to examine the deal and identify the acts of omission and commission by Government officials, said choosing Devas for the deal “seems to be lacking in transparency and due diligence”.
It said “the approval process (for the deal) was riddled with incomplete and inaccurate information given to the Union Cabinet and the Space Commission”. While the Antrix-Devas agreement was signed on January, 28, 2005, “this fact was not disclosed to the Space Commission or in the Cabinet note dated November 27, 2005, in which approval was sought for the launch of GSAT 6, one of the satellites to be built under the agreement”.
The report said the terms of Antrix-Devas contract “were heavily loaded in favour of Devas”. It pointed out that terms of the agreement entail that while in the case of the failure of the satellite, the risk was entirely of the Department of Space, the success of the satellite would commit the latter to substantial expenditure”.
Secondly, it said “it is surprising that for the purpose of arbitration, Devas has been considered an international customer even though its registered address in the contract is in Bangalore”.
The report also noted that no clearance was obtained from the legal cells of the Department of Space and the Finance Ministry for Antrix-Devas deal, as is mandatory for any international agreement by any department of Indian Government
A day after ISRO made public the high-level committee reports which found administrative and procedural lapses in the 2005 ISRO deal between Antrix- Devas, former chairman G Madhavan Nair slammed the country’s mainstay space research agency for releasing a convenient and selective portion of the reports.
He told The Pioneer that it was completely unfair to release a mere portion of the report on the deal. Nair also said that the report was full of inconsistencies and inaccuracies. He said: “I am shocked to see only select parts of the report. Making public a portion of the report is clear indication to justify themselves for whatever wrongdoing they have done. This is a cowardice act.”
It is noteworthy that even though they have found procedural and administrative lapses in the deal, they did not term the whole thing as a scam. Both the committees have pointed out that the Antrix board did not inform the Space commission and Union Cabinet of the agreement on the deal while seeking approval for the satellites. “I am not worried at all. I have not done anything wrong. I will examine in detail all the points made in the report. I will respond to them technically and analytically for all of them,” Nair asserted.
The 68-year-old renowned space scientist and former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair and three other scientists have been barred by the Union Government from taking up any Government job based on the two-member panel report over Antrix- Devas deal when Nair was the chairman of ISRO in 2005. However, Nair directly blamed present ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan for the misgivings. Nair also consistently maintained his position seeking a thorough probe into the whole controversy. He had also written to the PM in this regard.
Nair questioned the second panel report saying the committee had not given them an opportunity to defend themselves. “How did the second panel come to any conclusion without inquiring with us? No chargesheet was presented to us. No chargesheet was communicated but conclusions were drawn. Is this how an enquiry is conducted? How can the present chairman be a complainant and an investigator too,” he asked.
It was on Saturday that the Department of Space made public the report of the high power committee headed by BK Chaturvedi and professor Roddam Narasimha and conclusion and recommendation of the five-member committee headed by former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Pratyush Sinha. The reports indicted Nair, A Bhaskaranarayana, KR Sridhara Murthi and K N Shankara all of whom have retired.
Bhaskarnarayana, former Scientific Secretary at ISRO, said he would look into all details before taking any action. “We have to make inquires and see what options are in front of us before we plan the future course of action.”
The Pratyush Sinha committee, set up on May 31 last year to examine the deal and identify the acts of omission and commission by Government officials, said choosing Devas for the deal “seems to be lacking in transparency and due diligence”.
It said “the approval process (for the deal) was riddled with incomplete and inaccurate information given to the Union Cabinet and the Space Commission”. While the Antrix-Devas agreement was signed on January, 28, 2005, “this fact was not disclosed to the Space Commission or in the Cabinet note dated November 27, 2005, in which approval was sought for the launch of GSAT 6, one of the satellites to be built under the agreement”.
The report said the terms of Antrix-Devas contract “were heavily loaded in favour of Devas”. It pointed out that terms of the agreement entail that while in the case of the failure of the satellite, the risk was entirely of the Department of Space, the success of the satellite would commit the latter to substantial expenditure”.
Secondly, it said “it is surprising that for the purpose of arbitration, Devas has been considered an international customer even though its registered address in the contract is in Bangalore”.
The report also noted that no clearance was obtained from the legal cells of the Department of Space and the Finance Ministry for Antrix-Devas deal, as is mandatory for any international agreement by any department of Indian Government
