ISRO terminating contract with Devas on spectrum

ISRO has announced that it has already initiated the process to terminate the deal with Devas Multimedia and claimed there was no financial loss to the government on account of this.ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan admitted that details about the 2005 contract under which Devas, floated by a former ISRO official, was to receive rights to 90 percent usage of transponders on two satellites, were not shared with the Space Commission or the Union Cabinet."One point that was not explicitly mentioned (to the Union Cabinet) was that GSAT 6 and GSAT 6A satellites are going to be predominantly used for this novel and commercial application that Antrix had entered into with M/s Devas," he said in New Delhi on Tuesday.After media reports that the deal between Devas and Antrix, commercial arm of ISRO, could cause a loss of over Rs two lakh crore, the ISRO chief held a press conference to clarify that neither spectrum nor transponders or satellites were given to Devas or Antrix so far.

"The question of revenue loss incurred does not arise," said Radhakrishnan, who was accompanied by former ISRO chief and Member, Planning Commission K Kasturirangan.
He said the process of review of the contract was initiated in 8th December 2009 and soon "we are expecting it to complete it.""In December 2009, I instituted a committee with a former member of Space Commission for a comprehensive review of all matters," he said explaining the genesis of the process of review.
To a question whether ISRO officials were aware of the fact Devas was to get a predominant share of transponders on GSAT 6 and GSAT 6A, he said it was an internal matter and necessary action will be taken.
He said some of the members of the Antrix Board may have been aware of the Devas connection.Asked why there was no competitive bidding for the deal, Radhakrishnan said this was a case of new service in 2003 and there was nobody there having such technology.Kasturirangan said the new technology was developed by Devas as part of an international consortium which comprised the best among peers."As of now, we have the contract. It has not been terminated. The process to terminate is on. The decision to terminated was taken in July 2010. We are in the process of doing it," Radhakrishnan said.The decision to terminate the contract was taken as the spectrum was required for national strategic purpose. It has been done in the interest of the government and the public, he said.