ISROW: Ex-chief Nair blames Radhakrishnan for ban

Stung by the Department of Space’s order, which barred him from holding any government posts, G Madhavan Nair hit out against his successor and current ISRO chairman Dr K Radhakrishan.
Blaming Radhakrishan for misleading the government, he said the ban was a personal vendetta launched by the current ISRO chairman.
“From the beginning facts have been distorted and people have been misled. This deal was finalised by the Antrix board, which is the highest decision-making body of ISRO’s commercial arm, and he (Radhakrishan) was a member at that time and had given his consent to all the decisions,” Nair told DNA.
Nair was the chairman of ISRO when the controversial deal between Antrix and Devas Multimedia Private Limited was signed in 2005. The deal involved allocation of 70 MHz of S-Band wavelength to Devas for its digital multimedia services. The deal also allowed leasing of 90 per cent of the transponders on GSAT-6 and GSAT-6A satellites that are to be launched by ISRO. However, the deal was annulled in February 2011 following media reports that Devas had allotted the scarce S-band spectrum in violation of rules.Subsequently, a three-member committee was set up by prime minister Manmohan Singh to scrutinise if there were any violation of rules.
The former Isro chairman, who put India on the moon, said that he was deeply hurt by the way he and his former colleagues have been has been indicted in the report.
“This gross injustice has been done to some of the top scientists of the country, and the action against us is unprecedented in any angle, be it legally, procedurally or the human aspect, if you look at it,” he said.
He also said that the committee did not give him a fair chance and was not allowed to make his point.
“The whole procedure followed by the committee is wrong. I was only sent a questioner, like the one they distribute for conducting poll surveys. No reactions or comments were sought and there was no formal hearing by the committee,” he said.
Reposing faith in prime minister Manmohan Singh, he said that he was confident that the PMO would bail him out.
Nair, however, did not rule out legal action.