N-liability cap Bill slammed

The Bill that seeks to cap at Rs 2,800 crore the liability in case of a nuclear mishap has been criticised by a top jurist as contrary to India's interest and by an international environment NGO as violative of fundamental rights, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Mar 10, 2010, 24:43:14 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The Bill that seeks to cap at Rs 2,800 crore the liability in case of a nuclear mishap has been criticised by a top jurist as contrary to India's interest and by an international environment NGO as violative of fundamental rights.

India’s Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, approved by the cabinet early March, fixed a maximum liability of Rs 2,800 crore for a nuclear mishap, with a maximum of Rs 500 crore for a public or a private operator. The draft Bill will enable India to sign the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, without which the US and other nuclear supplier countries are not willing to sell equipment to India. The country is looking to set up nuclear power plants to meet the rising demand for electricity.

The Supreme Court had clearly said the polluter pay principle was for "absolute liability" and obligation to adopt remedial measures for environmental damage, Sorabjee said.

"Importantly, the Supreme Court ruled that the precautionary principle and the polluter pay principle have been accepted as part of the law of the land and is referred to in Articles 21, 47 and 48-A of the Constitution," the former attorney general said.

Polluter pay principle basically means that the government or the company setting up the industry — in this case nuclear plant - will bear all "pollution" and remedial costs, which also includes a mishap.

Article 21 provides for protection of life and personal liberty, while Article 47 holds the state responsible for providing nutrition and improvement of public health. Article 48-A provides for improvement of environment and safeguarding forests and wildlife.

"In view of these Supreme Court judgments.… there is no warrant or justification for capping nuclear liability… as is sought to be done," Sorabjee said in his opinion to Greenpeace.

Even the environment ministry, led by Jairam Ramesh, opposed the Bill. The law fails to specify the compensation for death or damage due to an accident, it argued."The act (Bill) does not provide for interim compensation and only speaks about final compensation," the ministry said, adding impact of nuclear damage to human, animal life and environment are long-term.

The 10-year window for seeking compensation was not enough since a nuclear mishap could lead to changes in the DNA (genetic changes) that normally manifest in next generation, the ministry said.

The cabinet overruled the objections, saying the law was important to get private investment for nuclear power plants. The Bill could be taken up during the ongoing session.

"India should not forget Bhopal gas tragedy," said Karuna Raina, a nuclear campaigner with Greenpeace.

"The law will be against the interests and the cherished fundamental right to life of the people of India…"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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