Antrix moves court to stall Devas’ arbitration bid
February 9th, 2012 - 7:36 pm ICT by IANS
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.
- Antrix case against Devas' arbitration adjourned (Lead) - Feb 09, 2012
- No cheap selling of spectrum in Antrix-Devas deal: Review Committee - Feb 05, 2012
- ISRO to release reports on Antrix-Devas deal - Jan 31, 2012
- Panel shows Devas deal was not wrong: Ex-scientist - Feb 05, 2012
- Nair, three others found responsible for Antrix-Devas deal (Lead) - Feb 05, 2012
- PM should probe ISRO blacklisting order: Former chairman (Interview) - Jan 29, 2012
- Nair, three others found responsible for controversial deal - Feb 05, 2012
- Devas deal: Probe team indicts ex-ISRO chief, three others (Second Lead) - Feb 05, 2012
- Centre scraps ISRO-Devas deal on S-band spectrum allocation - Feb 17, 2011
- Madhavan Nair takes on government, says ISRO gone to dogs (Lead) - Jan 25, 2012
- Government scraps ISRO's spectrum deal with Devas (Third Lead) - Feb 17, 2011
- Spectrum will be sold only through auction: Pilot - Feb 06, 2012
- CAG slams Department of Space for Antrix-Devas deal - May 15, 2012
- Devas threatens legal action if ISRO annuls accord - Feb 16, 2011
- DEVAS deal annulment only involves upfront costs: ISRO - Feb 10, 2011
Tags: additional city, apex court, band spectrum, cag, commercial arm, comptroller and auditor general, controversial deal, corp ltd, crore, indian space research, indian space research organisation, interim injunction, international court of arbitration, isro, local court, multimedia services, rs 2, satish, sessions court, two satellites