Bengaluru-based start-up Devas Multimedia, which is now under the control of a liquidator, approached a US appeals court against a federal court order of January 3 that allowed the start-up’s foreign investors to find assets of Antrix Corporation in the US Eastern District of Virginia for the recovery of $1.2-billion compensation for the failed Devas Multimedia-Antrix Corp satellite deal.
The January 3 order by the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, a federal court, came after three foreign investors of Devas Multimedia — CC/Devas Mauritius Ltd, Telcom Devas Mauritius Ltd, and Devas Employees Mauritius Pvt Ltd — had moved the court to allow the discovery of Antrix assets across the US. The foreign investors have also been targetting assets of Air India — as a Government of India entity prior to its sale to Tata Group — for the compensation.
Antrix Corporation is the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). After the 2005 deal between Antrix and Devas was annulled in 2011, Devas investors have won separate compensation awards in international tribunals, including $1.2 billion awarded by an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal on September 14, 2015. This award was upheld by the US District Court for the Western District of Washington on October 27, 2020, and Antrix has appealed this order in a US appeals court. The Supreme Court of India has asked for the ICC tribunal award to be kept in abeyance through a November 4, 2020 order. India’s National Company Law Tribunal ordered the liquidation of Devas Multimedia on May 25 last year citing fraud in its creation. The NCLT order was upheld by the Supreme Court on January 17.