Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday indicated that there were “positive” signals from the government on its suggestions on the nuclear liability bill and said the party would take a decision on supporting the measure after examining the fine print of changes in the legislation.
BJP leaders said the suggestions made by the party had been received well at Tuesday’s meeting of the standing committee looking into the bill and were likely to to be incorporated.

“So far, it is positive,” a senior BJP leader said after the meeting of standing committee on science and technology which is examining the bill. The committee is expected to table its report in parliament Wednesday.

Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said at the party’s official briefing that the party had given some suggestions to the government regarding the bill.

He said senior party leaders had conveyed the suggestions to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee during their meeting last week and the party leaders had a follow-up meeting with the minister Tuesday.

Jaitley said the BJP wants a provision in the bill to state that it deals only with plants operated by the government or a government company.

“The operators’ liability should be enhanced to a minimum of Rs 1,500 crore or such other enhanced amount to be notified from time to time,” he said.

He said that similar provision should be made concerning the total liability of the incident, as increasing it without such a condition would be a cumbersome process. “Total liability of the incident to be kept at 300 SDRs (special drawing rights) or such other enhanced amount to be notified from time to time,” he said.

Jaitley said that the supplier’s liability was weak in the bill. The party also said that amended language in relation to liability for suppliers should include a special provision which may refer to liability during transportation of equipment.

He said the options for operators vis-a-vis suppliers in case of substandard equipment and other latent and patent issues should be strengthened.

The BJP leader said the bill should contain a statement in the main enactment, as also in the preamble, that all liability under this Act shall be “No fault liability” so that cases such as leakages are also treated as proof of negligence.

He said the party wanted the government not to close its options and there should not be a direct or indirect reference to any international convention such as the Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC).

Party sources said the report was likely to incorporate most of the suggestions from the party. They said that provisions of the bill are likely to be kept compatible to international conventions.

The passage of the legislation is crucial to implementing the landmark India-US civil nuclear deal and the government has been keen to pass the bill in the ongoing monsoon session of parliament.

The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010, was introduced in the budget session of parliament. It was later referred to the standing committee.

The bill seeks to create a mechanism for compensating victims of damage arising from a nuclear accident.

The bill fixes no-fault liability on operators and gives them a right to recourse. It caps the liability of operator at Rs.500 crore and makes the central government liable for damage exceeding this amount up to 300 million SDR.