The government today sought to take the sting out of the opposition attack on the nuclear liability bill, contending that it was only carrying forward the initiatives taken by the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime.
Efforts to bring in legislation on civil liability for nuclear damages were first made by the NDA regime in 2000, when the issue cropped up during the setting up of Russian-made atomic power plants at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, minister of state in the prime minister's office Prithviraj Chavan told reporters.
Chavan said the NDA government had set up a committee of legal experts to look into the issues arising out of a possible nuclear accident, which were examined by senior officials in the external affairs ministry and the Department of Atomic Energy.
"We continued with that effort, which was left unfinished," Chavan said, adding that the committee of experts and senior government officials had clearly recommended that the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill be enacted.
Rejecting suggestions that the government was acting under US pressure, he said that once enacted, the law would enable India to be part of the international Convention of Supplementary Compensation (CSC).
"There is no comprehensive legal regime for compensation of nuclear damage, and the sooner we do, the better it is for us," Chavan said.
On BJP leader Yashwant Sinha's opposition to the bill, Chavan said opposition to its introduction can only be on the grounds of the legislative competence of the house and the constitutional validity of the bill.
"The merits of the bill will be discussed when it is taken up for consideration. Today's issue was only on its introduction," he said when asked about Sinha's contention that the bill violated basic rights enshrined in the Constitution.
Referring to the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984, Chavan said that in case of a nuclear accident, the victims would not have to run from pillar to post for compensation.
He said the government had passed a law in 1991 to address issues arising out of industrial accidents, but that law specifically left out radiological accidents.
Currently, therefore, there is no law to govern the award of compensation in case of a nuclear incident. "We want to introduce the bill as there is a vacuum at present," he said.
Chavan said the concept of limited liability was first mooted by the US in 1957. The Price-Anderson Act of the US first introduced the concept of nuclear liability.
Initially, the American act pegged the liability of the operator at US $60 million and of the government at US $500 million. This was subsequently raised to over US $10 billion after the entry of private players in the nuclear sector.
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