Isro chief Radhakrishnan wants to quit

K Radhakrishnan, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), wants to quit. He took the job in 2009. Radhakrishnan is also chairman of the Space Commission and secretary, department of space.

The controversial deal between the space agency’s commercial arm, Antrix, and Bangalore-based private firm Devas Multimedia, for S-band spectrum came to light after Radhakrishnan’s predecessor at Isro, G Madhavan Nair, moved to the Space Commission, highly-placed government sources said. “Radhakrishnan is unhappy and wants to move out,” said one source.

At a press conference in New Delhi earlier this week, which was addressed jointly by Radhakrishnan and K Kasturirangan, another former Isro chairman, reporters asked why the Cabinet had not been informed of the Antrix-Devas deal. Those close by overheard Radhakrishnan being advised to say it was an “oversight”.

However, Radhakrishnan circumvented the question. Madhavan Nair had taken over at Isro from Kasturirangan. “This matter never came to Cabinet. The minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, Prithviraj Chavan, appeared to have had no knowledge of it. It was done at the level of the department,” said the source.

“The deal has been cancelled and there is no doubt that Devas will take Antrix to court. But this does not mean investors will stop coming to India. This is just a canard being spread by vested interests,” added the source.

Sources could not explain how the Foreign Investment Promotion Board could clear a project for which there is no policy or regulatory architecture in existence. Investors in Devas include Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, US private equity firm Columbia Capital and NRI-owned US investment firm Telcom Ventures.

Meanwhile, in a statement, Devas said it welcomed the government’s decision to constitute a committee to review its deal with Antrix. “The Company will cooperate in the fullest with these reviews, which it hopes will be completed before any precipitate decision is taken on the agreement,” the company stated. Devas maintains that it has not been informed that the deal stands cancelled.

“We are fully committed to working with anybody in the government on the reviews and will be willing to share any requested information with the concerned agencies,” said Ramachandran Viswanathan, president & CEO of Devas.