ISRO row: Narayanasamy asks scientist Narasimha to reconsider his resignation

New Delhi, Feb 24 (ANI): With Roddam Narasimha resigning in protest against the blacklisting of former ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair and three other scientists over the controversial Antrix-Devas deal, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) V. Narayanasamy on Friday said the government will follow the procedures and urged the eminent scientist to withdraw his resignation.

"In fact, I saw the statement by Roddam Narasimha. In fact, as far as the two reports that have been submitted by Chaturvedi Committee and also the Pratyush Sinha Committee, we put it on the website, and on the basis of which the letter has been sent to the scientists. And in fact, from our side, we made it very clear that the government will follow the procedure that has to be followed," he told ANI.

Narayanasamy further said the government holds the country's scientists in the highest esteem for their immense contribution to the Indian space research.

"We are not here to take action against anybody, we hold the scientists of this country in the highest esteem, because they have contributed for our Indian space research, and we value their services, we respect them," said Narayanasamy.

"Therefore, whatever thinking is in the mind of Roddam Narasimha to resign, my request is let him not do that. If it is there (to resign) in his mind, let him withdraw that," he added.

Nair and three other ex-ISRO scientists were blacklisted based on two official reports on the controversial deal.

An earlier committee comprising of Professor Roddam Narasimha and BK Chaturvedi had said there was no question of financial losses due to "cheap selling" of spectrum in the Antrix-Devas deal.

The Devas deal signed by ISRO"""s commercial arm Antrix to lease out 90 per cent of transponders in the S-band frequency on two ISRO satellites was annulled by the government in February 2011.

A two-member committee featuring former cabinet secretary B N Chaturvedi and Space Commission member Roddam Narasimha analysed the deal and found procedural lapses by ISRO officials in the signing of the agreement and sought reforms to prevent future lapses.

A second committee headed by former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Pratyush Sinha, set up after the Chaturvedi report to fix responsibility for the lapses, said that there was suspicion of collusion of officials and lack of transparency in the deal and recommended action against former ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair, and three other retired space scientists A Bhaskaranarayana, K R Sridhara Murthi and K N Shankara. (ANI)