The meeting comes after the controversial deal to lease out bulk transponders on two satellites by ISRO’s Commercial Antrix to a private firm came to light. A section in the media had claimed that the Department of Space had allocated 70 MHz of S-Band spectrum to Devas Multimedia for 1,000 crore rupees . The actual value of this was estimated to be around 2 lakh crore rupees.
Government had appointed a two member high-powered committee to look into case. The Committee headed by former Cabinet Secretary and member Planning Commission B K Chaturvedi has been assigned the task to review the technical, commercial, procedural and financial aspects of the Agreement between Antrix and Devas Multimedia Pvt. Ltd. It will also review the adequacy of procedures and approval processes followed by Antrix, ISRO and Department of Space, and suggest improvements and changes. The Committee will submit its recommendations within one month to the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh who is minister in charge of the Department of Space. Noted aerospace expert Roddam Narsimha, Member, Space Commission is the other member of the committee.
ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan had admitted that details about the contract that gave Devas rights to 90 per cent usage of transponders on two satellites, were not shared with the Space Commission or the Union Cabinet. However the Prime Minister’s Office had denied reports, saying no decision has been taken and hence charges of revenue loss were without any basis.