IANS

CHENNAI THE central government cancelled the Antrix Corporation- Devas Multimedia deal for reasons of national security and not for purported loss of revenue in sale of spectrum, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office V Narayanasamy has said.

He also said the government was not discriminating between space scientists and Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officials and, based on their culpability, punitive action would be taken against the latter too. “We did not cancel the deal due to media pressure or the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) estimation of loss. The government cancelled the deal on the issue of national security,” Narayanasamy told IANS on phone.

A committee comprising BK Chaturvedi and Roddam Narasimha that went into the controversial deal has ruled out cheap selling of spectrum by Antrix to Bangalore-based Devas.

“Concerns of cheap selling of spectrum to Devas have no basis whatsoever. Space spectrum is not comparable to terrestrial spectrum. Devas was also required to obtain licences from Department of Telecommunications, Department of Information Broadcasting for providing services to customers and would have to pay, apart from transponder leasing charges and other charges which would be determined by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) based on consultation mechanism,” the committee declared.