what is your feeling on Devas Multi Media Moving International Court on Scrapped Antrix Deal?

Question

11 Jul 2011
Devas Multimedia, whose controversial deal for scarce S-band spectrum with Antrix Corporation was annulled by the government, has moved the International Court of Arbitration for restoration of the contract.

Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said it would go through the finer details of the development before responding.

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?727370

There is a lot revealed about this deal in the media already which had somehow lost attention due to more shocking news like terror attack in Mumbai!

The inquiry into Devas Multimedia's deal with Antrix, the commercial wing of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has found that when the Indian arm of the company was founded in 2004, it had just two shareholders and a paid-up capital of Rs 100,000.

The 2005 deal, which gave Devas permission to use 70 megahertz S-band spectrum without inviting bids, resulted in a huge revenue loss to the exchequer, it is alleged.

The inquiry has found that of the total paid-up capital, Rs 90,000 came from a middle-level Isro employee.

The second shareholder, who contributed Rs 10,000, was a Class IV employee and had been personal assistant (at Isro) to the man who later became the Chairman of Devas Multimedia, M G Chandrashekhar. Chandrashekhar was with Isro from 1988 to 1997

http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-is-isro-involved-in-devas-meteoric-rise/20110310.htm

Indian space scientists, who have left it to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to take a ‘political call’ on dumping the contract for allotment of high-value and scarce airwaves to Devas Multimedia Ltd, told the inside information on the contract that is now in the public domain came from a senior bureaucrat and relative of the first family of Tamil Nadu.

The bureaucrat’s sole motive, Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) officials said, was to shift attention from the 2G scam and the role of the former telecom minister

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/bengaluru/whistleblower-devas-was-dmk-man-242

India's space agency continued to engage in periodic joint reviews of its contract with a private satellite applications company for more than six months after it was ordered by the Space Commission to cancel the deal.

The revelation contained in a chronology of the deal made public by the company Devas Multimedia today suggests that Indian space officials either dithered on or...

A senior Isro official contacted by The Telegraph declined to explain why Antrix or Isro officials continued to participate in joint reviews of the project even after Isro had been instructed by the Space Commission to annul the contract.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110211/jsp/nation/story_13567869.jsp

The setting up of a panel by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to review the agreement between Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and a private firm for lease of the high-value and scarce S-band radio waves, was termed "a cover-up" by the opposition, who noted that Planning Commission member B.K. Chaturvedi, who is in the two-member panel announced by the prime minister, was the cabinet secretary when the controversial agreement was approved.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-02-10/news/28615160_1_commercial-arm-antrix-and-devas-allocation-of-space-spectrum

So a bureaucrat had leaked classified information about the Isro/Antrix-Devas contract — which cannot be accessed through the Right to Information Act — and thereby, whipped up a smear campaign against the prime minister, who holds the portfolio of space and the organisation according to the ISRO scientists!

OK, if the info was not leaked, the whole dubious deal would not have remained a secret, since the CAG had pointed out the enormous drain of revenue to govt due to not inviting bids and favouring a Co of dubious antecedence! So much had come in the media but we are all lost in discussing Digvijays and Sibal's howlers!

What is your impression on the murky issue in a top dept under PM's direct purview?

Answer 1

most of the details are already available in your question and further eloborated by sri bala in his answer .,

the important question that rings everybody's mind is how Mr. clean MMS is going to cover/explain this

(loss to exchequer is 2 lakh crores is comparitively very high , and this figure makes Raja nowhere near and his is peanuts comparitively)

"It is a national shame that scams running to lakhs of crores of Rupees are tumbling out of the UPA government's closet with monotonous regularity,



"How the Prime Minister, an economist of repute, can be a silent accomplice to such gross misdemeanours is beyond me. Singh has to break his silence and come clean," jayalalitha said in a statement in Chennai.

Otherwise, people would lose faith in the Central government and the "nation will become a laughing stock before the whole world," Jayalalithaa said.



Media reports of a Rs 2 lakh crore loss to the national exchequer in allocation of 70 Mega Hertz of valuable S-band spectrum were shocking to say the least, she said.



Citing the reports, she said Devas Multimedia, a Bangalore-based company, was in 2005 given "complete control" of 70MHz of S-band spectrum that can be used for mobile broadband services for 20 years at a throwaway price of Rs 1000 crore.

and the biggest joke is that this 1000 crore allocation was given to a co. of zero business repute , whose paid up capital is hardly rs. 1,00,000/-



This mammoth ISRO deal, pertaining to the sensitive Department of Space, which comes directly under the control of the Prime Minister, was brought to light when the Comptroller and Auditor General of India commenced a preliminary audit of the activities of the Department of Space.





Although the Space Commission in July 2010 strongly objected to the contract and recommended that it be scrapped, this has not happened, she said, adding the deal between ISROs Antrix Corporation and Devas has to be immediately nullified and spectrum allotted to the private company should be recovered.



A thorough probe has to be initiated to find out how precious national resources are so "flippantly being frittered away and who the real beneficiaries of such largesse are like

Answer 2

The problem in giving an objective response to an issue about which we have only media reports to depend on, is definitely risky! But the studied silence of people whose reputation is at stake or who give precious little critical info from their side to prove their probity in the deals, gives us enough reason for obvious doubts!



On a purely commercial view, the company may be entitled to make its claim, having embarked on business banking on the utility of the deal, at some probable heavy investments, since it would incur heavy losses due to the sudden withdrawal of the allottment, unilaterally! But what is enigmatic here is that the deal was not from purely commercial private players per se, but by the employees of the isro or interests working at proxy!



That the high drama of allocation was orchestrated under protection of exemption from RTI, which got upset due to a costly ''leak'' from a bureacrat close to the DMK quarters etc exposes the abetment of the scandal much beyond the isro establishment, right upto PM...



Yes the people are too tired to read the complex games of scandal played in several depts by highly qualified bureacrats, scientists and other technocrats, with total protection from politicians in power! They would understand simply that the nation's resources are at stake and the Congress govt had was behind all the culprits!



They would also understand why the Sibals and Mukerji's are averse to the LP Bill with teeth!

Answer 3

If I go by the media sources cited, it is clear that the "indian arm" of the Devas started in 2004 with a meagre capital of Rs one lakh by just two share holders, of whom the bulk (90k) was from a middle level isro employee, the other share holder a class IV employee of the isro and the chairman Chandrasekar was also an ex isro man! This itself raises serious doubts, particularly when the very next year 2005, they struck the hefty deal under S band spectrum, without any bids being invited, regardless of the huge drain to our exchequer!



The fact that the isro officials while recommending the withdrawal of the deal, had also told PM

about a bureacrat (related to Karuna family, Tamilnadu) who had ''leaked'' the info (that was otherwise not accessible even under RTI) just to put the PM in bad image (as if the image was ok with a concealed misdeal)!



The PM had told the public that there was no drain of revenue and there was no corruption either! Then why the hell he could not explain the veracity of the allottment to a private organisation in which the ex isro man was the chairman and the shareholders also from the same govt organisation! Why he agreed to withdraw the deal?!



The isro had been having the link with the Devas even after dumping the allttment, by attending their meetings, to which they could not adduce any reason to the media!



While the entire scenario, from the formation of the Devas by isro staff, to the massive incentive given through allocation of the rare spectrum, the continued links even after the withdrawal of the deal etc, expose a clear case of 'vested interests' in play, under the highly probable cover of PM's own support (or the shadow power behind him too!), the latest info about the filing of a case for International Arbitration clinches the issue as totally orchestrated by commercial interests with ''power links'', operating in isro itself!



If the people and the opposition were shrewd and vigilant, in the wake of critical data provided by media, the PM should have been held responsible already for the criminal drain of govt revenue, through unauthorised allocations intended to benefit commercial interests, against govt norms! But still people are fighting over RSS or IM groups, to side track the public!



Unless the Rajya Sree (Bharath Maatha) herself launches her spear of Dharma, there is no hope for this country to restrain these looters, masquerading as Mr Cleans and Ms Patriots!