Civil nuclear liability bill to be introduced in this session

NEW DELHI: The government is expected to introduce a bill that limits the liability of a nuclear plant operator at Rs 300 crore in the eventuality of an accident and provides for appointing claims commissioner with powers of a civil court to arbitrate such cases in the current session of Parliament. The prime minister had recently met BJP leaders and sought their backing for the legislation.

The passage of a civil nuclear liability bill is an important step in the implementation of the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement. The bill was approved by the Union Cabinet on November 20 last.

The bill 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 Central government to either increase or decrease the amount of liability of any operator.

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 of terrorism and suffered by person on account of his own negligence. The bill also provides for establishment of Nuclear Damage Claims Commission which will have one or more claims commissioners for a specified area.

It proposes that the claims commissioner shall have all powers of a civil court for the purpose of taking evidence on oath, enforcing attendance of witnesses, compelling the discovery and production of documents and other material objects.