N-bill draft gets tough on suppliers

The draft of the revised civil liability for nuclear damage bill significantly strengthens the specific Clause B of Section 17 dealing with suppliers, including foreign ones, by doing away with conditionalities that can lead to protracted Bhopal-type litigation. The clause provides operators of nuclear plants the “right to recourse” or the option of seeking damages for faulty material, equipment or services. But the original bill stated this could be done in case of a “wilful act” or “gross negligence” resulting in a nuclear accident. This has been done away with.
It had been felt by most members of the standing committee on science and technology that conditionalities would give suppliers an escape route and dilute the claim of victims to speedy compensation. The draft now reflects this position in a fairly comprehensive manner.
As anticipated, the first stage “no-fault” compensation has been hiked from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,000 crore. There is no change in the compensatory structure as a whole with the bill pegging total damages at 300 million SDR, which is linked to India becoming a member of the supplementary convention on compensation—an international agreement.
The process of appointing claims commissioners has also been altered allowing the selection of persons other than bureaucrats. Some suggestions of ministries like environment and forests, agriculture, law and labour have been incorporated and the time period for filing claims has been hiked from 10 to 20 years.
The environment and forest ministry had argued that the toxicity of radiation in terms of its inter-generational impact needs to be assessed carefully and a 10-year window may not be enough. The agriculture ministry had pointed to the need to include references to soil toxicity and the impact on crop fertility in the wake of an accident. While these views have been taken into account, it is still up to the government to decide the provisions it will be prepared to accept. Given its desire to bring about as wide a consensus as is possible, it will try to travel as far as it can. The draft, though a property of the committee, may reflect official thinking in some measure.
There is an insertion on the right of victims to approach a civil court to challenge the claims commissioner or the tribunal. The bill had spoken of no civil court having the power to adjudicate on a matter before the claims commissioner or tribunal. A proviso has been added that the award of these bodies can be challenged in a civil court.
The panel will consider the draft clause by clause on Monday and though there is an effort to close the gap between the government and its critics like Left and BJP, the fate of the proposed legislation is still in balance.