Are courts precluded from granting fair compensation for nuclear mishaps: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to respond whether the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Act, 2025, which replaced the Civil Liability for Nuclear Liability Act of 2010, would preclude constitutional courts from determining a “fair and just” monetary compensation in case of a nuclear mishap. A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant also sought to know whether there is any conflict of interest in the power under Section 17(4) of the Act to appoint Chairperson and Members of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). The bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, issued notice to the Centre and AERB on these two issues.The court was hearing a plea which said that the government’s move to cap the liability of private nuclear operators under the Act in case of a nuclear disaster will encourage the operators to cut corners. Appearing for the petitioners, Advocate Prashant Bhushan and Neha Rathi said the Act caps the highest liability of the operator at Rs 3,000 crore and the government’s residual liability at Rs 4,500 crore. Referring to nuclear disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima, Bhushan contended that the real cost would be several times higher. The CJI, said that “only because Parliament imposed a cap, it does not bar the courts”. To the court’s remark that the limit may be only to make the project more attractive to foreign investors, Bhushan said it might lead to the operators cutting corners. “If there is a nuclear accident in the country, questions will be raised. And if those accidents are on account of corners cut by the plant operators, in the belief that their liability is capped at Rs 100 crore to Rs 3,000 crore … it’s a very very serious issue,” he said. Bhushan said the SC decisions had in the past laid down this principle that if somebody operates a hazardous industry, then if there is an accident from that industry, the person who runs it will have absolute and unlimited liability, “That principle has been clearly violated”. Also, AERB itself runs some nuclear plants, and it also plays a significant role in regulating them. “This is a violation of the principles laid down of the independence of the regulatory body by all international conventions”. Responding to a query from the court about nuclear energy, Bhushan said the government had assessed India’s potential of solar power and said it is 3,343 gigawatts (GW) using 6% of wasteland, which his 14 times the peak power demand of 256 GW. He submitted that solar power can be built in three months and its per-capita unit cost is one-fifth that of nuclear energy. “It has no hazard whatsoever,” he said.
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