Public Consultation on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010

Call to scrap Nuclear Liability Bill

As reported in Hindu, Mumbai on 8th July 2010

A Public Consultation on the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010 on Wednesday held it unconstitutional and violative of the right to life and demanded that it be scrapped.

The Bill is currently with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, which in an advertisement on June 24 had called for wider consultations to include public opinion on the Bill.

Organised by the University of Mumbai's Law Department, Greenpeace India and Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), the consultation is an attempt to put forward a strong people's mandate against the Bill by the time it comes up for discussion before the Standing Committee between July 13 to 17.
“Time not enough”

Priya Pillai, policy analyst with Greenpeace India, said that despite demands for a wider consultation, the government gave 15 days' time and notices were published only in the English media. On Tuesday, a public hearing was held in Hyderabad attended by over 70 people. People had very little time to express their opinions on the Bill, which according to the HRLN “represents a travesty of Indian common law and does nothing to protect Indian citizens in the case of a nuclear disaster.”

Prof. Suresh Mane, head of the Department of Law, University of Mumbai, set the ball rolling by asking if this Bill was really necessary. He said it was aimed at pleasing the private players in nuclear energy who wanted a cap on civil liability. Countries such as Canada have no cap in case of a nuclear accident on liability, he pointed out.

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