Chaturvedi committee submits report on Antrix-Devas deal

The high-powered committee headed by B K Chaturvedi that looked into the various aspects of the issue of S-band spectrum allocation to Devas Multimedia by Antrix Corporation today submitted its report to the prime minister.

The government had, last week, announced the scrapping of the allocation of S-band spectrum by Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), to the private company.

Devas Multimedia was served a termination notice on February 25 after the government ruled that S-band was required for strategic purposes for armed forces.

The government had, earlier, constituted a high powered review committee comprising B K Chaturvedi and R Narasimha to, inter-alia, review all the aspects of the agreement between Antrix and Devas Multimedia Pvt Limited and fix responsibility for lapses and suggest correctives, and if any as also suggest improvements and changes in processes and procedures to be followed by Antrix, ISRO and the Department of Space.

The prime minister has referred the report to the cabinet secretary K M Chandrashekhar for examination and to make recommendations on follow up actions. The cabinet secretary has been asked to submit his recommendations within 15 days.