MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PG & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME
MINISTER’S OFFICE(SHRI V. NARAYANASAMY):
(a) & (b) Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), the commercial arm of the
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), had entered into an agreement with M/s
Devas Multimedia Private Limited (Devas) on January 28, 2005 for lease of 90% of
S-Band transponder space segment capacity through two satellites to be funded,
built and launched by ISRO.
Antrix did not have any Joint Venture with the private company Devas. Also, ISRO
has not allocated any S-Band spectrum to Devas.
This agreement was terminated on February 25, 2011 following the decision of the
Government not to make S-band spectrum available for commercial use, but use it
for strategic needs.
(c) & (d) The three Mauritius based share holding companies of M/s Devas
Multimedia Private Limited viz., (i) M/s CC/Devas (Mauritius) Ltd; (ii) Devas
Employees Mauritius Limited; and (iii) Telcom Devas Mauritius Limited have issued
notice of arbitration to the Republic of India, on July 03, 2012, under the
Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPA) between Government
of Republic of India and Government of Republic of Mauritius and in pursuance of
UNCITRAL Rules.
The three Mauritius based companies have submitted their Statement of Claim on
July 01, 2013 and the Government of India have submitted the Statement of Defence
on December 02, 2013. The merits hearing of the Arbitration Tribunal is scheduled
to be held in the first week of September 2014. On completion of merits hearing,
the issue of damages would be taken up by the Tribunal, as the need may be.
Another foreign investor in Devas, namely M/s Deutsche Telekom AG has issued a
notice of arbitration on September 02, 2013 under the Bilateral Investment Promotion
and Protection Agreement between Government of Republic of India and Government of
Federal Republic of Germany.
As of now, the foreign partners of Devas have not quantified the damages. However,
Devas, in a separate commercial arbitration case against Antrix, under ICC rules
have sought damages of $1.6 billion for not honouring the Antrix-Devas agreement.
Antrix has taken action to defend the case before the tribunal constituted by ICC.
(e) In order to handle these arbitration cases, Government of India has appointed
M/s Curtis, Mallet, Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, a law firm of international repute, to
represent Government of India in the arbitration proceedings.
