N-Bill: Govt may drop 'intent' clause?

New Delhi: While the controversy over the Nuclear Liability Bill seems complex it actually all boils down to one question: How much will the suppliers of nuclear equipment be liable to pay up if there is a nuclear disaster?

In the latest version of the Bill the nuclear supplier will in effect pay absolutely nothing even if the disaster is caused by a defect in the suppliers' equipment because the Bill says the supplier will be liable only if it supplies equipment with the intent to cause a nuclear disaster.

Lawyers say that no supplier will ever sell equipment with the intent to cause damage and that can never be proved anyway, so all suppliers will be not liable.

The Opposition parties rejected the earlier version because it said that suppliers will not be liable unless the supplier signs a special agreement with the operator in India which makes the supplier liable.

The Opposition says most suppliers won't sign any special one to one agreement and therefore all suppliers will escape any liability.

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The government apparently feels that these objections are valid.

Minister of state for Parliamentary Affairs Prithviraj Chavan in an earlier interview said, "The Opposition has raised valid objections."

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It now seems that the government will accept these objections and remove or dilute the words "intent to cause nuclear damage".

In any case there is confusion over whether there is any cap on liability for suppliers while the Bill doesn't mention any, legal experts say that in effect the Rs 1,500 crore cap on operators will be the cap on suppliers, as only the operator can ask the supplier to pay damages and the operator cannot ask for more than their own cap of Rs 1,500 crore.

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With India likely to order 25 nuclear plants, the world waits eagerly to see what condition India sets as it will set the standard for the rest of the world in the future.