ISRO is in the news of late, unfortunately for the wrong reasons, around the sale of satellite S band spectrum to a company Davos.
In a season where the word spectrum itself is shrouded with negative aura of corruption and deliberate selling short of state assets, ISRO seems to be in the situation of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Some supporting facts of this case are that ISRO signed a commercial contract with Davos only after the other suitors for the S-band including Reliance backed off. Despite the fact that Davos would have been the primary beneficiary of the deal, it was a commercially and legally tenable deal.
Perhaps ISRO and government can claim overriding clauses of "national security" or "public interest". But essentially since the government has backed out due to negative external sentiment, Davos would be justified in adopting legal recourse in enforcing penalty for unilateral abrogation of the contract. From a longer term perspective, it is very important for ISRO and government to establish clear and transparent guidelines and policies regarding such sales so that entities dealing with them do not feel left in the lurch by what they may regard as out of scope arbitrariness.
In a season where the word spectrum itself is shrouded with negative aura of corruption and deliberate selling short of state assets, ISRO seems to be in the situation of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Some supporting facts of this case are that ISRO signed a commercial contract with Davos only after the other suitors for the S-band including Reliance backed off. Despite the fact that Davos would have been the primary beneficiary of the deal, it was a commercially and legally tenable deal.
Perhaps ISRO and government can claim overriding clauses of "national security" or "public interest". But essentially since the government has backed out due to negative external sentiment, Davos would be justified in adopting legal recourse in enforcing penalty for unilateral abrogation of the contract. From a longer term perspective, it is very important for ISRO and government to establish clear and transparent guidelines and policies regarding such sales so that entities dealing with them do not feel left in the lurch by what they may regard as out of scope arbitrariness.
As predicted in this blog, Devas has indeed moved International court.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.indianexpress.com/news/devas-moves-international-court-on-scrapped-antrix-deal/815926/
As SADLY predicted in this blog, a humongous fine has been imposed on Antrix/ISRO due to the case moved by Devas.
ReplyDeletehttp://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/successor-k-radhakrishan-misled-govt-on-devas-multimedia-deal-ex-isro-chief-nair/
And now Antrix will either have to pay fine or renegotiate with Davos (considering the original deal was a reasonable one and the contract abrogation was done under previous ruling dispensation, this would be preferable).
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