Nuclear Liability Bill to be tabled in Parliament today

Nuclear Liability Bill to be tabled in Parliament today

NDTV Correspondent, Updated: August 18, 2010 08:47 IST


New Delhi: The controversial Nuclear Liability Bill will be tabled in Parliament today after the standoff finally ended on Tuesday.

The government was able to bring the BJP on board after its concerns were taken into account. (Read: Nuclear liability bill standoff ends; Govt, BJP find a way out)

As part of the understanding, the government has promised to look at the BJP's concerns and address them. In return they will not dissent like the Left parties will do.

According to sources, Opposition members Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley along with the principal opponent of the bill, Yashwant Sinha, met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

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NDTV has learnt that in the meeting it was decided that the operator will have to sign a contract with the supplier which will take care of latent or patent defects.

Also, the Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC) will be removed from the statement of objects and reasons of the bill. This means, the bill won't commit to India signing an international convention, which would have given India access to international funds in case of a major accident. The Left has objected to this since the CSC would not allow a foreign supplier to be sued.

They have also agreed to increase the extinction of right to claim for any nuclear damage for a period of 20 years from 10 years.

The standing committee on science and technology, which has been studying the bill, has recommended increasing the liability cap from 500 to 1500 crore. They have also said that the operator's liability will be the supplier's liability too.

The Left has, however, given a dissent note they want the cap to be Rs. 10,000 crore.


Story first published: August 18, 2010 08:42 IST

Tags: N-Bill, Nuclear Liability Bill, Parliament