ISRO chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan who has been accused of witch-hunting and resorting to vendetta politics over the controversial Antrix-Devas deal by his predecessor, G Madhavan Nair, has finally broken his silence by stating reports of the two committees set up to probe irregularities in the deal would be made public after attaining necessary clearance.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Radhakrishnan, who is also secretary, department of space stated that the department is in the process of getting necessary clearances for releasing the reports of the two committees (the High Powered Review Committee set up by government on February 10, 2011, with BK Chaturvedi and Prof Roddam Narasimha as members, and the high level team set up by government on May 31, 2011, chaired by Pratyush Sinha) to examine various aspects of the Antrix-Devas agreement of January 2005.
Nair has been alleging that Radhakrishnan had misled the prime minister’s office and worked behind the scenes in getting him barred from holding government jobs.
Nair along with three of his former ISRO colleagues — A Bhaskaranarayana, former ISRO scientific secretary, KN Shankara, former director ISRO Satellite Centre and KR Sridharamurthi, former director Antrix Corporation — were recently banned by the department of space from holding any government posts by the Pratyush Sinha-headed committee.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the State Awards for Scientists and Engineers-2010, Roddam Narasimha said he welcomed ISRO's decision to make his report public.“I think there is an ongoing debate without understanding what the blame is for. I think it would be good to release the reports. I would be all for it,” he said.
Narasimha said the scientists should be given a chance to explain to the government on the roles in the Antrix-Devas deal and that it is unfair on the government’s part to ban them.
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