New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS) A day after an ostensible meeting of minds between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the government on the contentious civil nuclear liability bill, the main opposition party Thursday flagged a fresh area of concern – this time on nomenclature.
BJP leaders Thursday told the government that the recommendation of a parliamentary panel to introduce the word ‘and’ in clause 17 should not be accepted as it reduces the efficacy of subsequent provisions in the clause, which relates to the liability of a supplier in case of an accident.
Sources saisd that senior BJP Arun Jaitley gave a note to Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prithviraj Chavan, saying that the word ‘and’ did not exist in the original bill introduced in the Lok Sabha and was not discussed during the party’s discussions with the government on the bill or in the standing committee on science and technology.
The party leaders said that Clause 17 (a) provides for an agreement in writing to enable the operator to exercise the right of recourse against the supplier. Clause 17 (b) deals with the liability of the supplier in case of defective or sub-standard plants.
A senior leader said that if there was an agreement in writing between the operator and the supplier, the agreement will operate on its own terms and no statutory support is required from Clause 17(b).
‘However, with the insertion of word ‘and’, the right to recourse for defective or sub-standard equipment is made conditional on the supplier agreeing to an agreement in writing. In such a case, the efficacy of clause 17 (b) is completely destroyed if the supplier does not agree to an agreement in writing,’ the leader said, adding that what clause 17(b) gives as a protection to operator, the word ‘and’ snatches it away.
BJP leaders said that since the nuclear plants were to be operated by the government or government-run companies, it would be in the interest of the country to delete the word ‘and’.
BJP leaders Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Yashwant Sinha met in the evening to discuss the party’s stance on the issue.
Official sources said that the government, which had planned a cabinet meeting Thursday to consider amendments in the civil nuclear bill, had decided to postpone this to Friday.
In its report submitted to parliament Wednesday, the Standing Committee on Science and Technology suggested a change in the bill making the recovery of damages from a supplier dependent on his acceptance of liability in a written agreement.
