The latest move by the Government spells a journey from celebrity status in the scientific community to infamy for Mr Madhavan Nair.

In 2009, Mr Nair was adorned with the Padma Vibhushan soon after ISRO undertook the first Indian Chandrayaan mission during his tenure. He received the Padma Bhushan in 1998.

Mr Nair, 68, loses his visiting professorship at ISRO. He was Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT-Patna, and Chairman, Governing council of CSIR's NAL. He chaired the high-powered committee that submitted a feasibility report on the National Civil Aircraft Development Project under NAL.

It is learnt that Mr Nair stopped coming to his office at Antariksh Bhavan 10 days ago.ISRO's other officials later confirmed to the Government that the agreement was against the rules and the PMO was not kept fully informed of the details of the Antrix-Devas deal. Devas was floated around 2004 by one of ISRO's former top scientists and Scientific Secretary, Dr M.G. Chandrashekar.

Recently, Dr R.G. Nadadur, a senior IAS officer from Karnataka, who was Additional Secretary, DoS, opted for voluntary retirement. He was a member of the Pratyush Singh panel.

Pratyush Singh panel completes brief

The action in the S-band controversy comes close after the third inquiry panel under Mr Pratyush Singh, former Central Vigilance Commissioner, completed its brief towards the end of 2011. The probe outcome has not been disclosed so far.

The five-member Singh committee was set up in May last year ostensibly to fix accountability for wrongly allocating precious S-band, not privy to anyone until then.

The first probe committee was formed by the PMO on February 10, 2011, under Professor Roddam Narasimha and Mr B.K. Chaturvedi.

ILLUSTRIOUS POSTS

When Dr Kasturirangan's tenure as the chief of ISRO was ending in 1993, Mr Madhavan Nair's name for the top post was said to have been endorsed by fellow rocket man, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Starting in 1967 with the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Systems, his space career saw a steady rise. It included the crucial posts of Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre and Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

He is the current President of the prestigious global space-farer body, the International Academy of Astronautics.

In an organisation that reveres its chiefs — the likes of Vikram Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan — the current events are unprecedented and unfortunate, said a senior officer who has worked with ISRO for 30 years. Two immediate predecessors of Mr Madhavan Nair continue to be intimately connected with ISRO.

Dr U.R. Rao, Chairman during 1984-94, is currently Chairman of the Governing Council of the Physical Research Lab and is sought after for his views on satellite-based developmental matters.

Dr K. Kasturirangan (1994-2003) is a member of the Planning Commission. Earlier, he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha after he demitted the ISRO Chairman's post.

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