Former ISRO Chairman, Mr G. Madhavan Nair, today took a dim view of the Law Ministry’s directive to the Department of Space to give a chance to him and three other banned scientists to explain their stand on the controversial Antrix-Devas deal, saying it was “like seeking explanation from a person after being hanged.”

The Law Ministry’s view, based on the Attorney General’s input that the principle of natural justice should be followed in the case, “clearly implied that natural justice has not been followed so far”, Mr Nair told a meet-the-press programme here.

“As far as a scientist is concerned, his reputation is more important than anything else,” said Mr Nair, who, along with three other scientists, have been barred from holding Government posts for their role in the controversial Antrix-Devas deal.

Asserting that the Government had done injustice to them, he said it handled the issue in an “insensitive” manner, as if “the scientists have done something seriously wrong.” Mr Nair said it was difficult to take as mere coincidence that “this sort of scams and controversies” surfaced whenever India made milestone achievements in the space programme.

“The ISRO-spy case of the 1990s erupted when the country successfully developed the PSLV. Similarly, now we have successfully launched our moon mission Chandrayan and are on the threshold of the GSLV.” Asked if the present scam was the result of a deep-rooted conspiracy, he said nothing could be ruled out.

On the cancellation of the Antrix-Devas deal, he said there could have been pressures from ground-level operators to scrap the agreement.

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