PMO sends letter to Dept of Space, in a bid to separate the sparring space scientists.
Seeking to defuse the Isro row, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO’s) wants to put into the public domain the reports of the two committees set up by it to probe irregularities in the controversial Antrix-Devas deal.
The PMO’s move comes a day after Isro chairman, Dr K Radhakrishnan, announced that the Department of Space is seeking necessary clearance for releasing the reports of the two committees – the High Powered Review Committee set up by PMO on February 10, 2011 with BK Chaturvedi and Prof Roddam Narasimha as members, and the High Level Team set up also by the PMO on May 31, 2011, chaired by Pratyush Sinha – to examine various aspects of the Antrix-Devas agreement of January 2005.
“A letter has been sent to the Secretary, Department of Space, to make the report public as early as possible. Once it is made public, answers to all questions pertaining to the Antrix-Devas deal will be available in the public domain,” minister of state, PMO, V Narayanaswamy told DNA over phone on Wednesday.
Radhakrishnan who is also Secretary, Department of Space was in New Delhi on Wednesday to discuss the issue with the PMO and obtain necessary clearance for making the reports public.
Last week, the Department of Space, following the recommendations of the Pratyush Sinha Committee, had banned former Isro Chairman G Madhavan Nair and his three former colleagues, A Bhaskarnarayana, former scientific secretary; KN Shankara, former director Isro Satellite Centre; and KR Sridharamurthi, former director Antrix Corporation, from holding any government posts.
Narayanaswamy said the decision to impose a ban on the above four which has drawn the ire of almost the entire scientific community in India, was taken based on the recommendations by committee and that it had the consent of the PMO.
“The prime minister had ordered for setting up the committee to probe into the deal and the committee has submitted its recommendations in the report which has been implemented by the government,” Narayana-swamy said.
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