Yet another instance of a leading space scientist in the country being victimised for no mistake of his has come out in the open with Vinod Rai, former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), issuing a clean chit to G Madhavan Nair, former chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation.
In his book “Not Just An Accountant”, Rai, who was the 11th CAG of the country during 2008 to 2013 has said that reports which appeared in a section of the media in 2011 stating that the exchequer lost Rs Two lakh crore because of the ISRO-Devas deal was wrong.
The mistake made by a junior officer in the Bangalore office of the CAG while preparing the report tarnished the reputation of Madhavan Nair and three other scientists who had dedicated their lives to the department of space. “The loss figure had no basis and, hence, we dropped it,” Rai writes.
The news cost Madhavan Nair , described as the father figure of India’s PSlV , of his positions as Vikram Sarabhai Professor in ISRO as well as the head of the committee of experts entrusted with the task of designing an indigenous civilian aircraft. In spite of his name being cleared by the CAG, Nair continues to be in wilderness. According to senior scientists at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram and ISRO headquarters in Bangalore, Nair is being victimised by the present ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan.
Rai writes in his book: It may be recalled that the Devas Antrix S-band spectrum issue attracted huge media attention. The Hindu Business line carried the following story on February 7, 2011: “CAG goes after another spectrum deal.”. This was another head line which made me sit up. The article claimed that preliminary audit reports had established a loss of Rs Two lakh crore in the deal. This was an audit being undertaken by the Bangalore branch office of the principal director of audit. I happened to be travelling to Bangalore a few days later and discussed the audit query with the concerned officer. The senior audit officer who conducted the audit meticulously explained the process to me and being questioned on the ostensible loss figures plainly told me that he was well within his powers to do so! It is a different story that on closer examination of that audit report in the head quarters we felt that the loss figure had no basis and hence dropped it.”
The controversial contract was signed between Devas Multi Media a private telecom player and Antrix, the marketing wing of the ISRO in January 2005. According to the deal the contract was to introduce satellite-based digital multimedia services to fixed, portable and mobile receivers. The ISRO was to build, launch and operate two specially designed satellites and allot S-band spectrum to Devas for 12 years, with the option of extending the lease by another 12 years.
The two satellites, GSTAT- 6 and GSTAT- 6A, would have fetched ISRO Rs. 1,350 crore and 15 per cent of the profit from Devas. The Union Cabinet had approved Rs. 269 crore to build GSTAT-6 while the Space Commission sanctioned Rs. 147 crore for GSTAT-6A. Since the amount was less than Rs. 150 crore, it did not require Cabinet approval. ISRO was to release 60 MHz of 150 MHz spectrum allotted for its satellites in orbit to Devas. ISRO would have earned an upfront capacity reservation fee of $ 20 million in three equal instalments, and $ 9 million a year as lease fee for the two satellites, payable quarterly in advance.
A senior space engineer said that two committees appointed by the present chairman found the government has not lost a single rupee because of the deal. “To make Radhakrishnan happy, they pinned Nair for procedure lapses which are nothing but silly arguments to victimise somebody,” said the space scientist who did not want his name to be quoted.
Space experts point out that as the then ISRO chairman, Nair should have made sure that Devas was in possession of the technology it claimed it had before clinching the contract. “But in space science, guts too play a major role. Nair was respected for his intelligence as well as boldness as far as launching of missions. Hence he took the decision to go ahead with the Devas project,” said a VSSC scientist
He also said that the report was leaked to the media by a bureaucrat in the department of space who was close to the Karunanidhi clan. “Some politicians close to Karunanidhi were accused in the Spectrum scam and it was to divert the national attention from it,” said the scientist.