NEW DELHI: The government today refused to be cowed down by strident questions relating to the Tata-Star DTH joint venture and hinted that procedures were followed in the case of Dish TV, 20 per cent owned by Zee Telefilms, too.

Replying to a written question on whether the government is still examining Space TV's (the JV's proposed brand name for a DTH service) application even after accepting Rs. 100 million as a precursor to the licence, information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy said that certain clarifications had been sought from the joint venture.

"Space TV has been asked to provide certain clarifications about project financing and nature of management control to ensure conformity to DTH guidelines," Reddy said in a written reply in lower house on the last day of the winter session of Parliament today.

However, the minister clarified to another part of the same question, asked by Congress MP Avtar Singh Bhadana, that licence was granted to the Subhash Chandra-controlled ASC Enterprise "after detailed examinations" of its application.

"The ministry granted licence to ASC Enterprise Ltd also after detailed examination of their application, in accordance with DTH guidelines, including sources of funding, foreign investments, shareholders agreements, etc," Reddy informed parliamentarians, trying to make it clear Space TV was not being handed step-motherly treatment.