Devas-Antrix Agreement Case- Recent Developments

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has recently released a notification authorizing ISRO’s commercial arm Antrix Corporation Ltd to file a petition before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for winding up of Bengaluru-based Devas Multimedia.

Key Points

• As per the notification by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the Companies Act, 1956 allows a petitioner to file for the winding up of a company if it was set up for unlawful and fraudulent purposes or the persons associated with the firm are guilty of fraud, etc.
• If NCLT finds such a petition correct, the company can be wound up.
• If NCLT considers the application genuine then it may also ask Devas to present its case.
• This is a new development in the Devas-Antrix case.

What is Devas-Antrix Case?

• Both Antrix Corporation Ltd and Devas Multimedia entered into a legal battle after the cancellation of the agreement two build communication satellites.
• Both the companies signed a deal to build communication satellites in the year 2005. The satellites were to use the S-band spectrum.
• The deal was cancelled after allegations that Antrix has offered S-band at a throwaway cost.
• The deal was terminated by Antrix in the year 2011.
• After cancellation, Devas moved to international court claiming its damages.
• The US court ordered in October 2020, Antrix Corporation to pay a compensation of $1.2 billion to Devas Multimedia.

In November 2020, The Supreme Court of India has directed the abeyance of the US court order until the next orders.