Liability rules leave very little recourse

 

 

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Liability rules leave very little recourse

via Prep4Civils by Bharath Vaishnov on 12/2/11

This article discusses regarding the new rules notified under civil nuclear liability act and its impact on indian public policy

• India conveyed US that any concerns regarding India's nuclear liability regime would have to be resolved "within the four corners of the law"
• Concerns are mainly regarding the controversial Section 17 of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act

1. sub-section (b) of Section 17 allows operators recourse, i.e. to claim damages from suppliers when the nuclear accident happens owing to the fault of a supplier

• Its effect on suppliers would be all the more onerous as it allows tort claims and doesn't limit claims
• US argues that Section 17(b) is not in conformity with the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage
• India argues that such a provision would afford greater protection to victims and conform with India's own fundamental principle of public policy of not providing immunity to those at fault

Rule 24

• Government recently notified Rule 24 on the right of recourse
• it limits the amount which can be claimed by exercise of the right of recourse

1. amount claimed is capped to value of contract
2. i.e. even if the damages paid by the operator(ie NPCIL) to victims of a nuclear accident, owing to the fault of the supplier(ex: areva, GE etc), run into crores of rupees, if the value of the contract is say one lakh rupees, the supplier will not be liable for anything more than the value of the contract

• it limits the time during which the right of recourse is available to operators
• suppliers, who enjoy a stronger bargaining position, can manoeuvre operators into greatly reducing such liability periods
• these new rules water down an Act that unequivocally protected intersts of  India's public
• Rule 24 represents an unfortunate, yet somewhat inevitablevolte face caused by considerable international pressure

Source: Photo

 

 

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