New Delhi, March 15: Apparently in view of the fierce opposition from BJP and the Left parties, the government on Monday decided not to table the contentious Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill in the Lok Sabha.
Commenting on the issue, Minister of State in PMO Prithviraj Chavan said, “Nuclear Liability Bill was deferred as members had raised objections; government will try to meet these objections formally or informally.”
“Since there is no law to give compensation to victims of nuclear accident at present; the Nuclear Liability Bill is the first step in that direction,” said Chavan.
Clarifying on the issue, Chavan further said, “There is no urgency to introduce the Nuclear Liability Bill. “ He also agreed that it was the right of the House to refer it to Parliamentary Standing Committee,.
Earlier, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar announced in the House, “I have a request from the Minister Prithviraj Chavan that government does not intend to introduce the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill today,”
The bill was mentioned in the list of business for the day and the government’s decision sparked protests from the Opposition.
Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj demanded that since the matter was listed, a motion had to be moved for withdrawal of the Bill from the agenda.
The Speaker, however, rejected the demand saying that such a motion cannot be moved as the bill has not been introduced in the House.
Accepting Speaker’s ruling, NDA working chairman L K Advani said the government should tell the House why it was not going ahead with introduction of the bill since it has been listed.
The government move came apparently in view of declaration by the Left parties and BJP that they would strongly oppose the proposed legislation.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is keen to get the bill passed in Parliament ahead of his US visit in April. The government wants to get it cleared in Both Houses of Parliament before it goes into recess later this week only to re-assemble on April 12.
Why is the Bill important?
The passing of the bill in Parliament is a crucial step that India is required to complete under the 123 Civil Nuclear Agreement with the US. Private companies in the US are not willing to sell any nuclear equipment to India without such a law in place.
The bill provides for compensation in case of a nuclear accident.
It pegs the maximum amount of liability in case of each nuclear accident at Rs 300 crore to be paid by the operator of the nuclear plant.
However, the draft bill also has provisions that would enable the government to either increase or decrease the amount of liability of any operator.
But it provides that the operator would not be liable for any nuclear damage if the incident was caused by “grave national disaster of exceptional character, armed conflict or act or terrorism.
The legislation also envisages setting up a commission, which will investigate and decide, if there is an accident, who was responsible for the error and fix responsibility.
The oppositions’ view
However, its passage in the lower house could be difficult given the fierce resistance by the Left and the main opposition BJP.
The Left parties say the bill “is a harmful piece of legislation meant to serve the interests of the US and its nuclear industry”.
“It is a blatant attempt to protect US suppliers from claims of liability and compensation. Even if there is a manufacturing defect which causes a nuclear accident that can affect the lives of people, there is no liability for the supplier. The clauses of the bill are so devised as to practically make it impossible to assign liability to the supplier,” Left parties said in a joint statement to oppose the legislation.
The BJP has said it would oppose the bill “tooth and nail”.
The opposition has strongly pitched for the bill being referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for considering in detail all aspects.
Defending the bill, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said: “It’s necessary to integrate India with rest of the world in terms of civilian nuclear energy.”
-Agencies