The UPA government is willing to consider a change in the language in any of the three formulations of the controversial 17(b) of the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill, 2010 – that in the original Bill, in the Parliamentary Committee version, or in the one cleared by the Union Cabinet last week, official sources said. A variation of the second or third version appears most likely.
Officially, however, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan said the government would accept any of these three formulations, though the government preferred the one cleared by the Cabinet —in which the operator must prove the supplier's “intent” to commit nuclear damage to seek compensation from the latter – as this represented the “distilled wisdom” of the earlier two formulations.
Mr. Chavan, who met BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Monday, said a final view would emerge after discussions with all other parties on Tuesday.
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The Bill will be brought to Parliament on Wednesday, the Minister said.