ISRO denies involvement of officials in S-band deal

According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) none of its officials, nor any from its commercial arm Antrix Corporation or Space Department was involved in the decision to lease precious S-band spectrum to Devas Multimedia under a controversial satellite deal.

The sweetheart deal, which proposed giving away spectrum to Devas at throwaway prices, was annulled by the centre following a public outcry.

ISRO, which came for much flak over the deal that could have resulted in a huge loss to the exchequer, however, refused to make public the contract Antrix Corporation Limited had signed with Devas Multimedia in January 2005.

Responding to an RTI query which sought names of officials that were party to the decision-making for the deal it said that ''none of the officials of Department of Space/Indian Space Research Organisation were involved in the decision-making process regarding allocation of S-band spectrum to Devas Multimedia''.

The applicant had also sought information from the ISRO file notings of the deal signed by Devas Multimedia in 2005.

Declining to provide the notings, ISRO said, ''the contract was prepared and finalised by mutual discussions between the parties. The interactions were basically in the form of technical presentations in line with the international practice''.