Now, blame the dead PV Narasimha Rao, NDA

Like 2G, the blame for the multi-lakh-crore S-band airwaves scam is also being laid at the doorstep of prime minister Manmohan Singh’s predecessors PV Narasimha Rao and AB Vajpayee.

According to details of the February 10 cabinet meeting, where K Radhakrishnan, Isro chairman and department of space secretary, was called for a briefing, Antrix Corporation signed an agreement with Devas Multimedia Private Limited on January 28, 2005, without inviting bids as its services were far better than those offered by Space Imaging Corporation of the US.

Antrix, under the department of space, had signed an exclusive agreement with Space Imaging in 1994 for marketing airwaves and other services worldwide, also without inviting bids. The late Rao was the prime minister then and Manmohan the finance minister.

It also surfaced during the meeting that the then Space Imaging CEO Robert Dalal succeeded in getting the agreement extended on January 27, 2004, from the Vajpayee-led NDA regime, so that the company could continue selling remote-sensing data from the country’s latest satellite to be put in orbit, Resourcesat-1, as well.

Antrix decided to market its own products after terminating contract with Space Imaging. Why the contract was terminated and how Devas was brought in quietly continues to be a mystery, however.

Strangely, no member of the cabinet grilled Isro and most of the presentation was related to how the deal was being cancelled and delay caused.
Radhakrishnan tried to explain that there was nothing unusual or wrong in Antrix signing the deal with Devas, which is owned and controlled by top retired Indian scientists and technocrats, as the contract with Space Imaging had been terminated.

The government is putting up a brave front saying no S-band scam has taken place as no spectrum was allocated to Devas. But sources said if Devas had no spectrum, how and why the foreign investment promotion board cleared the sale of its more than 40% shares to Columbia Capital, Telecom Ventures and Deutsche Telekom. In fact, Deutsche Telekom picked up 17% stake in Devas at a very high price expecting it will get S-band spectrum through GSAT-6 & GSAT-6A satellites.