Common sense suggests that there is little logic in the argument potential suppliers are making for the exclusion of supplier liability in the civil nuclear Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Larsen & Toubro Chairman A M Naik has suggested that consumers will eventually pay the price for an “unreasonably high” supplier liability and the clause will deter most major suppliers of nuclear equipment (“Finally, consumers will bear the cost of unreasonably high liability,” August 26). He is partly right in highlighting the impracticability of signing contracts with unlimited liabilities — and I suspect this will be a point of contention going forward. But to exclude a supplier liability clause just because other, developed countries don’t have it in their liability legislations is poor reasoning. What’s wrong with India setting a trend with progressive legislation? Not everything developed countries do is right, as the recent global financial meltdown has demonstrated.
Raman Vajpeyi, on email
