India to appeal against verdict in Antrix-Devas legal battle

Bengaluru, Aug 30 (IANS) India would appeal against any verdict to protect itself from damages in the legal battle its space agency's commercial arm Antrix Corporation is locked in with satellite firm Devas Multimedia Services Ltd, said a top official on Tuesday.

"The matter is sub judice. We will appeal against all judgements in any court," Antrix Chairman and Managing Director Rakesh Sasibhushan told reporters here.

The city-based Devas has recently conveyed to Antrix that it had approached courts in Britain and France to recover $672 million (Rs.4,512 crore) award it had won from an International Commercial Court in the form of the latter's assets and revenue.

The latest award comes in the aftermath of Antrix losing an arbitration case for the second time in the Permanent Court of Arbitration tribunal at Hague on July 25 for cancelling, in early 2012, the $300-million satellite contract it signed with Devas in 2005 and denying it access to use S-band spectrum for commercial use.

Devas, however, declined to share details on the latest award.

Invoking sovereign rights and citing security reasons, the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) cancelled the contract after the government decided that the scarce S-band spectrum should be restricted to strategic use and not for commercial operations.