The Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office V Narayanasamy has clrified that the central government has decided to scrap the agreement between the Antrix Corporation and Devas Multimedia due to security reasons and not because of the alleged loss of revenue to the government.

Narayanasamy also said that the government is not discriminating between the scientists from the space sector and Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officials and will take appropriate punitive actions against those responsible for wrongdoing.

"We did not cancel the deal due to media pressure or the Comptroller and Auditor General's estimation of loss. The government cancelled the deal on the issue of national security," he said while speaking to the media.

A committee headed by BK Chaturvedi and Roddam Narasimha has found that Antrix has sold cheap spectrum to Devas under the deal. The committee said in its report that Antrix did not have any basis to sell spectrum at lower prices.

It also declared that Devas was required to take the permission of the Department of Telecommunications and Department of Information Broadcasting before offering its services to the customers. Devas will not have to pay transponder leasing charges as well as other larges levied by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the company.

Meanwhile, Former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Madhavan Nair had sent a representation to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) seeking revocation of an order banning four scientists from working for the government.