N-Bill: And keeps BJP,Cong apart

Coming under pressure,the government late in the night decided to amend the contentious section. The BJP alleged breach of Parliaments trust saying changes were made in the Standing Committee for Science and Technologys report after its adoption.

Authoritative sources said the draft Bill that will be taken up by the Union Cabinet tomorrow will not include the word and.

Clause 17 says that the operator would have a right to recourse against the supplier where a such right is expressly provided for in a contract in writing and b the nuclear incident has resulted as a consequence of latent or patent defect,supply of sub-standard material,defective equipment or services or from the gross negligence on the part of the supplier of the material,equipment or services. There is a sub-clause c as well saying the supplier would be held liable in case of acts of omission and commission.

The BJP supported by the Left parties say that the inclusion of the word and would dilute and weaken the provision as it would make supplier liability possible only if it was expressly mentioned in the commercial contract between the operator and the supplier.

In the absence of the word and,they claim,the supplier would have been liable for its defective equipment even if such liability was not mentioned in the commercial contract.

The standing committee headed by Congress member T Subbirami Reddy had included the word and in a fresh sheet and stapled it in place of Page 30 of the report that was tabled in the Rajya Sabha yesterday.

17 a and 17 b were separate clauses during our discussions. And was inserted later. If the government is ready to remove this word and,then things can move forward,otherwise it will not, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said. BJP leader Arun Jaitley took up the issue with Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan.

The Left also raised the same concern,with Prakash Karat saying that the government had tried to sneak in a favour for US suppliers. The original Bill was much better. They have made it worse with the inclusion of the notorious,though a simple,word and. If and is deleted,problem is solved.

Reddy conceded that the report sent to him late night on August 17 by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat didnt have the word and,but says it was a mistake committed by the Secretariat officials. The committee at no point of time agreed to drop the word and. In fact,there was also mistake on Page 30 with the word defective missing in Section 17 B. I brought it to the notice of the Secretariat officials,after which the new Page 30 was stapled, he said.

Chavan said the government was only aware of the report as tabled in the House. We do not know what happened during the proceedings.