Alka Verma-
Published On: November 08, 2021 at 15:55 IST
Spaceflight Inc, a US-based firm, approached a US Court in the middle of an ISRO-Devas dispute, calling itself an “interested party” after a US-based Court was allowed to identify assets of ISRO’s commercial arm, Antrix Corporation, for recovery of a $1.2 billion compensation award.
Spaceflight Inc, which also signed up to be the first user of ISRO’s underdeveloped Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, approached the US Federal Court for the Western District of Washington at the end of October.
The firm approached the Court after the US-based Federal Court allowed Devas Multimedia, a Bengaluru-based start-up firm, to identify the assets of Antrix Corporation.
The Court allowed this to attach all of them during the time of recovery of $1.3 billion compensation which was awarded by an international tribunal over a failed 2005 satellite deal.
In that order, the Court also stated, “Deva’s investors can look at Antrix Corporation’s relationships with the Government of India and NewSpace as a part of the efforts to identify assets for attachment.”
In the said case, three foreign investors in Devas Multimedia argued before the US Court that ISRO’s new entity, New Space India Limited, has signed agreements with Spaceflight using the assets of Antrix Corporation.
The Court, after considering the matter allowed the identification of the assets for the recovery of the $1.2 billion compensation award by Devas Multimedia.
Moreover, the US-based Court also allowed foreign investors of Devas Multimedia to claim all the documents and communication during the process of recovery of compensation.
It should be noted here that the Court allowed the identification of assets. However, it was objected to and resisted by Antrix Corporation in the Court.
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