Hurt at the action taken against him over the Antrix-Devas deal, former ISRO chief, Mr G. Madhavan Nair, today accused the space agency Chairman, Mr K. Radhakrishnan, of being behind the move and pursuing a “personal agenda” to mislead the Government.
“This is his (Radhakrishnan’s) personal agenda. That individual is bent upon hitting so many people and in that process, he is killing the organisation,” Mr Nair told PTI here.
“He (Radhakrishnan) has misled the Government on the whole issue (the controversial Devas deal). He is the key person who worked behind this; he misled and miscommunicated to the Government and he has taken action”, alleged Mr Nair, who was the key figure behind India’s Chandrayaan-1 moon mission.
The Government’s action against Mr Nair and three other eminent space scientists came in the wake of the controversial Antrix-Devas deal in which a private company was allotted scarce S band spectrum by ISRO allegedly in violation of rules.
Besides Mr Nair, Mr K. Bhaskaranarayana, former Scientific Secretary at ISRO, Mr K.R. Sridharamurthi, former Managing Director of Antrix, commercial arm of ISRO, and Mr K.N. Shankara, former Director of the ISRO satellite centre, have been penalised by the Department of Space.
Noting that the decision on barring them has been kept a secret, he asked how can such a letter (to secretaries) affecting individuals can be kept secret.
“Without the authority of President of India, how such a vital decision can be communicated? This all shows that the people who handled the case at the Government....they are either ignorant or taken an autocratic view of the whole process,” he said.
“I feel pity for the Government...people who have taken such a decision. I have nothing to lose because people know me...what I have done for the country. I am really sad that such a thing has happened in a democratic country like India.
“Even in a military rule, the people are given a hearing before condemnation is made. This (the action against us) is worse than that.’’
He said the letter reportedly says the decision was taken by the Government and competent authority.
“What is this government and who is this competent authority? If they are bold enough, they should come in public,” Mr Nair said.