Wary ISRO to drop spectrum monkey off its back

The Department of Space (DoS) has decided to terminate the contract signed by Antrix Corporation — the commercial wing of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) — with Devas Multimedia for leasing of S-band transponders on its two satellites.

The announcement was made by DoS secretary and ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan on Tuesday, in the wake of allegations of favouritism shown towards Devas and perceived loss of revenue due to the allocation of spectrum to the company.

The space agency chief said the decision was taken following the directives of the space commission in July 2010.

The contract was signed by Antrix in December 2004, much before ISRO got approval for the launch of the satellites — GSAT6 and GSAT6A. Radhakrishnan said he had ordered a review of the contract in December 2009 by a committee headed by a member of the space commission. Based on this review, the matter was placed before the commission which directed cancellation of the contract last July.

The process of terminating the contract is on and Antrix will soon take action, without causing much financial loss. As of now, no spectrum has been allocated nor transponders given to Devas, Radhakrishnan said.

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister’s Office denied reports about the loss of revenue because of the deal. “ No decision has been taken by the government to allocate space segment using S- Band spectrum to Antrix or Devas,” an official statement said. That, however, failed to dampen the BJP’s spirits which renewed its attack on the PM Manmohan Singh with vigour.

Since Singh’s portfolio also includes the department of space, the BJP has upped the ante on the PM on the issue of ISRO allocating precious S- band spectrum to Devas without bidding and allegedly at a through- away price.