Antrix-Devas deal row: ISRO is bigger than any individual, says Kalam

New Delhi/Bangalore, Jan 25 (ANI): Former President Dr. AP.J. Abdul Kalam on Wednesday said the controversy surrounding the clash between former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G. Madhavan Nair and his successor K Radhakrishnan will not tarnish the image of the organisation, and added that it would continue to grow in stature.

"Indian Space Research Organisation is bigger than any individual. The organisation will grow and succeed," Dr. Kalam told mediapersons in the national capital.

After the Department of Space barred him and three other space officials from occupying any government position for their alleged role in the Antrix-Devas deal, former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair earlier in the day accused his successor K Radhakrishnan of being behind the move.

"This is his (Radhakrishnan's) personal agenda. That individual is bent upon hitting so many people, and in that process, he is killing the organisation," Nair said in Bangalore.

"He (Radhakrishnan) has misled the government on the whole issue. He is the key person who worked behind this; he misled and miscommunicated to the government and he has taken action", alleged Nair, who was a key figure behind India's Chandrayaan-1 moon mission.

Nair further said the action against them was a clear violation of the established norms of the country, and added the only agenda behind whoever had taken the decision was to tarnish the image of past scientists and the institute of ISRO.

"With this action, nothing is going to happen to us because all of us (the four) are established with international credibility in our own fields and the country will remember what we have given," Nair said.

He said he would now have to seek details of the charges against him by filing an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Besides Nair, former ISRO Scientific Secretary A Bhaskarnarayana, former Antrix Managing Director K R Sridharamurthi and former ISRO Satellite Centre Director K N Shankara have been penalised by the space department.he contract between Antrix, the marketing arm of ISRO, and Devas, a private sector company, was signed during the tenure of Nair at the helm of the space agency.

The government's decision is based on the report of a high-powered committee (HPC) that went into the deal as well as the report of a high-powered review committee headed by Planning Commission member B K Chaturvedi. (ANI)