Source :NEW DELHI: Pradeep Thakur, TNN, Feb 16, 2011, 01.44am IST
Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), gifted gold coins to officials of Department of Space (DoS) — the body which controls all its activities and is directly under the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
Raising objection to the expensive gifts which cost Antrix 7% of its profit, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said that in violation of laid down norms and Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) guidelines, Antrix had gifted more than 15,600 gold coins measuring 4 grams each to officials of DoS and ISRO. A CVC order of September 2004 prohibits any public sector undertaking from giving gifts to government servants.
Interestingly, the expenditure of Rs 7.36 crore incurred for this generosity was 7% of the profit of Isro's commercial arm in that particular year. The gold coins were distributed to celebrate Antrix's 15th anniversary. The organizer also paid an amount of Rs 37 lakh as fringe benefit tax to the exchequer to make this possible.
Antrix's partnership with a private company, Devas, has already embarrassed the PMO as a perception is gaining ground that the latter is favouring the private entity by not annulling the Antrix-Devas contract despite a recommendation from DoS secretary and Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan.
Though the Isro chairman had sought cancellation of the Antrix-Devas deal citing undue favour granted to Devas as the reason, way back in July 2010, government is yet to scrap it. To complicate matters further, the PMO has constituted another committee to review it.
Raising concern, CAG observed that since DoS and Isro employees were "permanent government servants who were also eligible for special cash incentives at the time of every successful launch of satellites, giving gifts to them was not justified".
Justifying its actions, DoS, in its response, said, "It was a small gesture shown by the company to DoS personnel to continue their contributions in this area."
CAG, however, rejected the contention saying the reply of the management should be seen in the light of the fact that the value of gifts constituted approximately 7% of the profit after tax and that it violated CVC guidelines.
Other beneficiaries of the gold coins included officials from Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, National Remote Sensing Agency, Isro Satellite Tracking Centre and Master Control Facility.
DoS is the administrative department in all matters relating to space systems. Antrix Corporation Limited was incorporated in September 1992 to function as the commercial arm of DoS with access to resources of DoS and ISRO to promote commercial exploitation of space products and to transfer technology developed by Isro.
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