SC dismisses Antrix plea against Devas on S-band spectrum

The Supreme Court today dismissed the plea of Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of ISRO, for arbitration of dispute with Devas Multimedia regarding S-band spectrum allocation in India.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir allowed Devas, whose controversial Rs 1,000 crore deal for scarce S-band spectrum with it was annulled by Antrix, for invocation of arbitration proceedings at the International Court of Arbitration in London.
Antrix had contended that as per their agreement and tender conditions, the place of arbitration was Bangalore and has requested the apex court to interpret the arbitration agreement of the deal.
Antrix had entered into an agreement with Devas for leasing of S-band capacity on two satellites -- GSAT 6 and 6A to be launched by ISRO.

Under the terms of the agreement, Devas was to use the leased capacity for 12 years to offer multimedia services through its specialised systems to mobile terminals across India.
After a controversy broke out on the agreement, the Cabinet Committee on Security had scrapped the deal citing strategic reasons.