Greenpeace to challenge any dilution of Indian Nuclear Liability Act

Reacting to the government's new approach on the liability law, Samit Aich, Executive Director, Greenpeace India said, "This is a shocking deviation from the spirit and letter of the Law passed after heated debate in Parliament that fought to protect Section 17, that seeks to hold suppliers liable in case of a nuclear incident."

Aich also said the government has made every effort to dilute this landmark legislation, whether it be through drafting Rules that have been summarily dismissed by the Standing Committee on subordinate legislation or through an attempt to provide an exit for foreign suppliers through the mode of contracts.

According to Greenpeace, the view expressed by the Attorney General, Ghoolam E Vahanvati, goes against the very grain of the Act and it's shocking that Dr Manmohan Singh would bend the law to favour foreign nuclear suppliers instead of ensuring the safety of the citizens of the country and securing the Indian tax payers money. "It appears we have learnt no lessons from Bhopal or Fukushima where a renewed discussion on Liability is underway. Instead of safeguarding the landmark Indian Law, this is a blatant violation of supplier liability that is being proposed" said Aich.

Greenpeace will not hesitate to legally challenge any dilution of the existing Liability Act and calls on political parties to challenge the dilution that they legislated against while passing this Act in Parliament in September 2010." A legal opinion from an advocate, Supreme Court of India, has been attached with the press release [1], which focuses on the controversy in the context of the 'right to recourse' provided for under section 17 of the liability act.

Notes

[1] http://www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/india/report/2013/Nuclear-liability-reactive-legal-opinion.pdf 

For more details contact:

Sumit Saxena, Media Officer Greenpeace India, , +91 9891857219