Antrix moves court to stall Devas' arbitration bid

Bangalore, Feb 9 (IANS) Antrix Corp, the Indian space agency's commercial arm, has moved a court here to restrain Devas Multimedia Services Corp Ltd. from proceeding ahead with its case in the Paris-based International Court of Arbitration against the $300-million scrapped S-band spectrum deal, an official said Thursday.

Additional City Civil and Sessions Court Judge D.B. Patil, after hearing Antrix, posted the case to Feb 25 for arguments.

Antrix filed the case for an interim injunction soon after Devas went for arbitration in July 2011, the official said.

"As Antrix is registered in Bangalore, we have moved the local court and also the Supreme Court under sovereign right after the government annulled the contract with Devas in February 2011," state-run Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) director S. Satish told IANS here.

"Since the matter is in the court, we will not be able to comment on the merits of the case," Satish said.

Antrix plea in the apex court on the arbitration issue was scheduled to come up for hearing Friday.

As per the deal, Antrix was to provide 70 MHz S-Band spectrum to Devas, which is into multimedia services. Antrix was to provide the spectrum by leasing out transponders of two satellites to be built mainly for Devas.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) estimated the loss to the exchequer to the tune of Rs.2 lakh crore because of the deal. The central government later scrapped the controversial deal.