A day after the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) released reports of two high-power committees which probed the controversial Antrix-Devas contract, former Isro chairman Gopalan Madhavan Nair said the organisation is continuing its “witch-hunt”, targeting him and former colleagues by making public “bits and pieces” of the inquiry reports.
The ‘Moonman’, who remained unfazed about the possibility of criminal charges against him and three other retired technocrats barred by the Department of Space (DoS) from holding positions in the government, demanded that the Prime Minister order a fresh probe into the circumstances under which the first move was made in November/ December 2009 to cancel the contract.
“I have requested the government to order an inquiry by an independent authority on why certain people in DoS moved in haste to annul the contract when the satellite was about to be launched to bring technological innovation to the country, and what was the compelling reason to file a suit against Devas Multimedia Pvt Ltd? And, why was the government misled about defence applications when sufficient space-based transponder capacity was allocated for strategic applications?” queried Dr Nair.
He said that contrary to pension rules and other procedures for disciplinary action, the DoS first announced the decision to blacklist him and three others first and then made the charges public. “This is called management by reason. The department ought to have sent us a chargesheet followed by a formal probe to enable every individual to present his case. Subsequently, those charged are allowed to move an appeal at the appellate body. In our case, none of these rules were followed,” he told Deccan Chronicle.
Laughing at suggestions made by the Pratyush Sinha committee about “illegitimate financial gains” from Mauritius-based firms which picked up stakes in Devas Multimedia Pvt Ltd, Dr Nair said, “Somebody has spun stories so that committee members arrive at adverse conclusions. We are poor pensioners who are prepared for verification of our bank accounts. That’s why we want the Prime Minister to order a thorough probe into this messy episode,” he added.
