NEW DELHI:The Supreme Court Friday said it would examine the constitutional validity of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act which pegs the maximum liability on a supplier and operator of a nuclear power plant in case of an accident at Rs.15,000 crore ($2.9 billion).
An apex court bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, Justice A.K. Patnaik and Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notice to the central government on a plea by NGO Common Cause, challenging the provisions of the act.The court declined to entertain other prayers of the petitioner saying that it was a scientific issue where there were differing opinions and court could not adjudicate on them.
“We are not experts to decide the issues which are essentially scientific and there are divergent opinions,” the court told the NGO’s counsel Prashant Bhushan.
The court said if the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission said that nuclear power plants were safe, then “are we going to say it is untrue”.Bhushan said the operator of a nuclear power plant had to spend far more money on making it secure than on meeting liabilities in the event of an accident.
“If an operator knows that his liability was limited to Rs.1,500 crore then why would he spend huge money to strengthen the safety of the nuclear power plant,” he said.(IANS)
