Nair resigns as IIT-Patna chairman

Former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G Madhavan Nair has resigned as the chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT-Patna.

Nair visited Patna on Friday to bid farewell to his colleagues, media reports said.

Nair and three other space scientists have been blacklisted from all government jobs. The disciplinary action against one of the most famous Indian scientists, who was the force behind India´s maiden moon mission Chandrayan I, was in connection with his alleged controversial role in a deal between ISRO´s commercial wing Antrix and Devas Multimedia that had made the S-band available to the later at a low price.

Indian authorities on Wednesday had ruled out a possibility to revoke their decision to bar Nair and three other space scientists from all government jobs, saying that the former ISRO chairman and his colleagues were free to appeal in court.

Nair had spoken out vehemently against the disciplinary action in connection with his alleged role in a deal between ISRO´s commercial wing Antrix and Devas Multimedia that gave away precious S-band satellite communication spectrum at throwaway prices.

Nair had said he would challenge the order in court since the probe into the episode is yet to be completed.

Speaking to a television news channel, the 68-year-old scientist said that present ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan had misled the government on the whole issue and was behind the action.

The Antrix-Devas deal had embarrassed Manmohan Singh's government since the contract, under which the scarce S-band spectrum was allotted to Devas at a dirt cheap rates, was signed by the unit of ISRO, which acts directly beneath the Prime Minister's Office.

Authorities also drew flak after it emerged that the deal had not been scrapped even more than a year after different departments within the government had detected lapses in it.

The deal was annulled later after a media expose created an outcry. Headed by K Radhakrishnan, who is now the chairman of ISRO, the Space Commission also decided to restructure Antrix.

Antrix had signed a deal with Devas Multimedia in 2005 to build two satellites on which Devas would lease transponders in India.

Bundled into the deal was 70 MHz of S-Band spectrum which was grossly underpriced priced at Rs 1,000 crore.

ISRO ordered a review in December 2009 and subsequently, the Space Commission recommended its annulment on July 2, 2010, but the deal was not annulled immediately.