Centre retreats on N-Bill

Fearing a defeat for the Bill at the introduction stage itself, the government informed Speaker Meira Kumar its decision to defer the introduction.

“I have a request from Minister Prithviraj Chavan that the government does not intend to introduce the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill today,” the Speaker told the House when the turn for the Bill’s introduction came.  

Seemingly surprised, Opposition members demanded that the House should take a voice vote on the Bill whether it should be introduced or not. This was, however, not allowed by the Speaker.

The UPA, at that point of time, was woefully short of the required strength to pull through in case of a vote. The introduction of the Bill, listed in the House business for the day, was thus deferred in a last-minute turnaround as the government which said issues raised by the Opposition members are “being examined”.

The serious loss of face forced the Congress to issue show cause notice to 35 of its MPs, including some ministers. This move came as it had already issued a whip for the MPs to be compulsorily present in the House. Talking to newspersons, Chavan said the government would introduce the Bill “at the earliest” after taking into account all views.

However, senior BJP member L K Advani asked the government to inform the House why it was not introducing the Bill. “The government should tell the House whether it has a re-think on it or whether they are not introducing because of opposition to the Bill,” he said.

The controversial Bill is being strongly opposed by the BJP and the Left parties. In a letter to the Lok Sabha secretary-general, senior BJP member and former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha said the Bill could not be introduced in the House as it violated Constitutional rights on protection of life and personal liberty.

Sinha asserted that the proposed law would force the government to meet the costs of any nuclear pollution or damage instead of the polluting company. “The effect of this would be to shift the financial burden of the pollution incident to tax payer,” Sinha said.

He accused government of coming under the pressure of the US government.
The Left parties have asserted the Bill was “a harmful piece of legislation meant to serve the interests of the US and its nuclear industry.” They have contended that under the proposed legislation, all the liability would fall upon the operator which is state-owned the NPCIL.