N-liability bill: Govt. back to playing old tricks?

New Delhi:  Reports emerging in a section of the media suggest that the central government may still be hell-bent on preserving the commercial interests of foreign suppliers of nuclear equipment through amendments made to the approved draft of the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill. If true, this is very likely to re-ignite passions that have repeatedly held up passage of the Bill in the Parliament.

A report by TV news broadcaster NDTV suggests that the Union Cabinet may have modified the language of the Bill in such a way that suppliers will be liable only if they cause an incident ''intentionally.''

The report says that sub-clause 17(b) of the bill now says:

The right to recourse where "the nuclear incident has resulted as a consequence of an act of supplier or his employees, done with the intent to cause nuclear damage, and such act includes supply of equipment or material with patent or latent defects or sub-standard services".

This suggests that the supplier can only be held liable if it can be proved that the damage in a nuclear accident resulted only because there was ''intent'' to cause damage. This brings the wheel back a full circle and debate is likely to resume.

It has been made kwon that the Bill is likely to be tabled in Parliament sometime next week, probably Wednesday.

So far the Opposition parties have been vigilant catching the government's various attempts to subvert the consensual draft through additions and omissions. Obviously, the game is not quite over.