BANGALORE: The high level panel, whose probe report on Antrix-Devas deal led to the controversial ban of ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair and three other space scientists from holding any government posts, indicted them for “serious” administrative and procedural lapses.
Nair on his part picked holes in the report, saying it was one-sided with “inconsistencies and inaccuracies” and attacked Department of Space(DoS) headed by his successor K Radhakrishnan for “cowardice” in releasing only “convenient portions”.
The report prepared by a five-member committee headed by Pratyush Sinha, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner, was made public on Saturday night. Antrix is the commercial arm of ISRO and Devas is a private firm and the controversial deal has since been annulled.
It said Antrix-Devas deal lacked transparency and recommended that action needs to be taken against Nair and fellow senior space scientists A Bhaskaranarayana, K R Sridhara Murthi and K N Shankara all of whom have retired.
The report said the terms of Antrix-Devas contract “were heavily loaded in favour of Devas”.
The team, which was set up to examine the deal and identify the acts of omission and commission by government officials, said “…there have not only been serious administrative and procedural lapses but also suggestion of collusive behaviour on the part of certain individuals and accordingly, responsibilities have to be fixed for taking action”.
“It is very clear that there have been serious lapses of judgement on the part of a number of officials,” the report said.
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 build under the agreement”, the report said.
“The convenient portions they have picked up and put it inpublic domain. It is distorted and one-sided. This is totally unfair. When you publish a report, it should be in totality”, Nair told PTI when his reaction was sought.
Nair said there are a “lot of inconsistencies and inaccuracies” in the Pratyush Sinha report.
“This shows that it’s not a fair deal meted out to the entire team (of four scientists).
Terming the report’s findings as “very serious allegations”, he wondered why no explanation was sought from the people concerned and a formal inquiry conducted.
“This has not happened. This is what is puzzling me,” Nair said.
Prior to the setting up of Pratyush Sinha Committee, the government had on February 10, 2011, set up the High Powered Review Committee(HPRC) with B K Chaturvedi and Roddam Narasimha as members to review the technical, commercial, procedural and financial aspects of the Antrix-Devas agreement of January 2005.
Nair was, however, all praise for the HPRC report, saying, “They have stated all facts; it’s fair enough… One of the best reports we can think of. Now you read these two reports (HLT and HPRC) together, you see inconsistencies in the whole process and the type of conclusions.”
The report said that concerns on short selling of spectrum or selling it cheaply are not substantiated and have no basis.
Ever since the government action against the scientists came to light, Nair has persistently targeted Radhakrishnan blaming him for the action, accusing him of pursuing a ‘personal agenda’.
After the government action provoked an outrage among the scientific community, Radhakrishnan had said the two reports would be made public after due clearance, apparently to defend himself against the attack.
The Pratyush committee also proposed action against four other scientists S S Meenakshisundaram, Veena Rao, G Balachadran and R G Nadadur. (PTI)