New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister
Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi
and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and is understood to
have apprised them about the controversial Antrix-Devas deal.
Chavan, who was Minister of State in the PMO and Member,
Space Commission, when ISRO's commercial arm Antrix had signed
the deal with private firm Devas Multimedia, is understood to
have told Gandhi and Mukherjee that there was no loss to the
exchequer as no spectrum allocations were made in the case.
He is believed to have told the two leaders that the
Space Commission had recommended cancellation of the deal
within 90 minutes of it being brought to its notice.
The deal for lease of 90 per cent transponders on two
satellites -- GSAT 6 and GSAT 6A -- was referred to the Space
Commission on July 2, 2010. The Commission immediately
recommended that the deal be scrapped as it felt it was a "bad
decision and a bad contract".
The Board of Antrix Corporation had approved the deal in
December 2004 and signed it on January 28, 2005.
The Opposition has been targetting the government on the
Devas deal.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 22:31