Truth finally trickling out of department of space: Madhavan Nair

A day after the department of space, in its affidavit before the Kochi bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), sought the dismissal of former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair’s plea by stating that there were lapses on his part in the controversial Antrix-Devas deal, Nair blamed the department of being hell-bent on tarnishing his image.

There was nothing new in the affidavit, Nair said, adding that the crucial information which was withheld before was finally tricking out.

“The department, in its statement before the CAT bench, has said that Devas sold its shares at a high value and that it came to know of it in 2010 itself, but did not inform the government until recently. Why did they sit on it? To help Devas?” questioned Nair.

Blaming the present Isro chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan for not taking any action, Nair said that his successor should also share the responsibility.

Nair questioned how the contents of the statement (affidavit) were leaked to media while the trial was still on.

The department, in its affidavit, had said that there were lapses on Nair’s part and that the government took action on the basis of findings of two high-level committees.

The high-power committee and the high-level team the Union government appointed to look into the Antrix-Devas deal had found that there had been serious administrative and procedural lapses on the part of Nair.

The affidavit also stated that as Nair was not appointed to any public service or post, nor was he a central government employee. Hence, the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, was not applicable to him and he cannot seek adjudication in the tribunal.

Nair said he was considering moving to higher courts if he failed to get justice.

RTIs filed by Nair have not yielded any results as the department had refused to part with information on why he was banned from holding government posts by stating that the matter was before the CAT.