The government rejected Left parties' charge that the Nuclear Liability Bill was designed to benefit American equipment suppliers and dismissed as unnecessary the controversy over a Parliamentary Committee recommendation for an amendment in supplier's clause. "Some quarters have expressed apprehensions that this bill is designed to address or benefit a particular country. It is totally wrong. I deny it emphatically," Minister of State in PMO Prithviraj Chavan told reporters in New Delhi.
On the row over inclusion of the word "And" between Clause 17(A) and (B), he said there was "a lot of unncessary debate" on the issue. The BJP and Left had contended that clubbing of the two sub-clauses had diluted the right of the operator of an Indian nuclear plant to seek compensation from a supplier in the event of an accident. After protests from BJP and Left, the Cabinet has decided not to accept the Standing Committee's recommendation to include the word "And".
Chavan said the Clause 17 has been amended in such a way that no operator can shirk its responsibility on paying compensation to victims upfront. The committee had recommended that the Clause 17 should be read as "the operator of a nuclear installation shall have the right of recourse where -- (A) "such right is expressly provided for in a contract in writing and (B) "the nuclear incident has resulted as a consequence of latent or patent defect, supply of sub-standard material, defective equipment or services or from the gross negligence on the part of the supplier of the material, equipment or services."
"We accepted the formulation given by the Leader of Opposition (in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley)," Chavan said. The proposed legislation, crucial for operationalisation for India's civil nuclear deals with various countries, including the US, will be moved in the Lok Sabha for consideration on August 25. Addressing another key Left concern, he said it was not necessary for India to join the Convention on Supplementary Compensation which is being planned under the aegis of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Chavan said he has also told the Left parties of government plans to strengthen the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) by giving it more autonomy. Currently, the AERB functions under the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). He said the government has decided to preface the contentious Clause 17 with the wording that the operator could, after compensating the victims, exercise the right of recourse against the supplier.
This is aimed at addressing the concerns that the BJP and Left had over clubbing of the clause.
