PM defends self on ISRO spectrum deal

Defending himself in Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday he was not in the know of things about the deal between Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) commercial arm Antrix and private firm Devas.

“The Antrix-Devas issue did not come to the Cabinet. These decisions are taken by the departments,” he told the Rajya Sabha.

He told Parliament that his government would make all efforts to “clean our public life”.

“Unfortunate developments have taken place in the areas of telecom and CWG (Commonwealth Games), I assure the House there is nothing we will not do to clean our public life,” he said.

Antrix had signed a deal with Devas Multimedia in 2005 to build two satellites on which Devas would lease transponders in India. Bundled into the deal was 70 MHz of S-Band spectrum which was grossly underpriced priced at Rs 1000 crore.

ISRO ordered a review in December 2009 and subsequently, the Space Commission recommended its annulment on July 2, 2010, but the deal was not annulled until now.

Devas Multimedia had been floated by former ISRO officials.