Former Isro chief Madhavan Nair tells B.R. Srikanth he will release a ‘white paper’ on the Antrix-Devas deal to counter the government’s charges and action against him and three former Isro colleagues.

Have you heard from DoS the reasons for punitive action against you?

I am still in the dark. The DoS is totally silent, so I am trying to get information on reports submitted by two probe committees through RTI. I plan to release a white paper on the contract as I have nothing to hide and have maintained transparency during my tenure as chairman of Isro. Meanwhile, most top scientists have expressed their anger and they understand what has happened in Isro. They also know all four of us, our commitment to technology and how clean we are. You see, in Isro, everything is a collective decision. Though the contract was signed in 2005, it was a continuing activity with the spacecraft almost cleared for launch in 2009. The Chairman (Dr K Radhakrishnan) was fully aware of everything as he was a member of Isro council, Antrix board and the Space Commission. It’s a puzzle, with events indicating pressure from some quarters from outside as soon as I handed over charge.

One complaint against you is that the Cabinet was not informed of the Antrix-Devas contract?

You must look at it this way. Antrix is like any other public sector undertaking, so matters stop at the company board. I don’t think any PSU reports all contracts to cabinet or the government, but only policy changes. When we went for the GSAT-6 contract, we carefully worded it saying 90 per cent satellite capacity will be for a private company. When we submitted the report, we were not sure whether they would accept it, so we kept 10 per cent for use either by Isro or leased out to other users.

Apparently, you informed the Space Commission only in May 2005?

I don’t remember members who attended that meeting. We normally go for approval of satellites based on the need. We don’t mention the user. That was not the practice even for (leasing transponders to) Tata Sky, Zee and Sun TV. Once the transponders are available, they are given to Antrix for commercial contracts with users. We did not seek cabinet approval when we gave 12 transponders to Tata Sky.

One clause in the contract reads “Antrix shall be responsible for obtaining all necessary government and regulatory approvals relating to orbital slot and frequency clearances, and funding for the satellite to facilitate Devas services”?

There’s nothing wrong in it. Satellites are built to operate with allocated band from ITU. No agency other than Isro-DoS is authorised to get clearance from ITU. It does not mean we gave spectrum clearance to Devas. It is mandatory to go to DoT and get clearance for spectrum. That stage was never reached. It’s not like operators get spectrum automatically.
I think Sun TV waited for six months before DoT gave its approval for spectrum. So when there are only minor procedural deviations, how can we be punished? I followed rules and regulations prevalent at that time. It looks like they wanted to put the blame on somebody and picked me as I was chairman of Isro and secretary of DoS.