SC agrees to look into Nuclear Liability Act

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine the constitutional validity of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 on a public interest litigation and admitted the PIL alleging infringement of fundamental right to life of citizens.

The PIL, filed by non-government organisation Common Cause, accused the United Progressive Alliance government of succumbing to foreign pressure to limit compensation obligation of nuclear reactor operators to a meagre Rs1,500 crore when leakage or an accident could prove catastrophic for a huge population.

The bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices A K Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar has asked the government to respond to the PIL.

The bench refused to go into the other part of the PIL demanding a transparent safety audit of existing nuclear reactors and setting up of an independent regulator to recommend safety measures.

"The issue is highly scientific. We are not competent. This court doesn't have the expertise to declare whether a nuclear reactor is harmful or not," the bench said. ''But since the Civil Liability of Nuclear Damage Act has a link to right to life, we will examine the validity of the law."

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Common Cause, tried to convince the bench of the importance of independent safety audit of nuclear reactors. "Only three safety audits have been carried out so far and no one knows what happened to the 95 safety recommendations," he said.