The Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi government has re-introduced the Nuclear Liability Bill in Parliament. The bill provides for a maximum liability of Rs 500 crore [1 crore is 10 million] on the part of the operator in the case of a nuclear accident. 500 crore rupees is peanuts; about 100 million US dollars. I see no reason for a capping of liability. Where the damages can be unlimited, liability should also be unlimited. In effect, this amounts to selling Indian lives cheap to the USSA. This should be viewed as treason - a very serious crime.
Just the other day, in New Delhi, there was a death due to radiation - and it was the State-owned university that had caused it. The university sold its radioactive waste to a scrap dealer. The government announced compensation. The university teachers' association demanded the sacking of their vice-chancellor. None spoke of torts - that those directly culpable should pay: in this case, the Chemistry department of Delhi U.
Torts are an essential pillar of the "rule of law." When you are liable for damages, you are very careful. Torts are why it is standard practice in every MacDonald's restaurant worldwide to display a "Caution! Wet Floor" sign whenever the floors are being swabbed. There is a strong disincentive against carelessness - of the kind displayed by Delhi University's Chemistry department, for example.
Similarly, in the case of nuclear plants, there must be unlimited relief in torts for any damages they may cause to the lives and properties of the public. Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi is preparing the grounds for a hundred Bhopals - and do note that no compensation has been paid to victims in this 25-year old case of industrial negligence as yet. Our Total Chacha State is not known to learn from past mistakes.
The Nuclear Liability Bill is being opposed by the Left and the NDA - but for all the wrong reasons. Ultimately, there is no solution but a "private law society" based on Property, Contracts and Torts. We don't need this mischief in our lives called Legislation. We need Law - ancient law.
Torts are the oldest laws of the Anglo-Saxons. Once upon a time, these happy tribes never had any notion of "crime." Their only laws were torts - that is, all crimes were crimes against the individual, and the tortfeasor had to pay. Professor Bruce Benson, in his The Enterprise of Law: Justice Without The State (buy the book here) relates the sad story of how torts were replaced by crimes - that is, crimes against the individual became crimes against The State. From then on, victims remained uncompensated. And The State took on the tax-funded task of legislating, investigating, prosecuting and punishing crimes.
True Justice can only transpire when a wrong is righted, with the victim being adequately compensated by the unjust party. This is the "doctrine of restitution." There is no justice when the "criminal" is sent to jail by the Total State - the "doctrine of retribution" - while the victim gets nothing.
We in India have much to learn from this historical work of Professor Benson's, if we are to find that elusive value of Justice. Right now, with the Total Chacha State, we are getting its very opposite.
Thus, by capping nuclear damage liability at 500 crore rupees, Chacha is giving US firms the incentive to sell us sub-standard nuclear equipment. Horrors!
I trust the importance of a robust system of torts is now clear.
Recommended read: My old column titled "Ring In Torts: Making People Pay For Negligence."
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