Why SHANTI Act's nuclear liability limits are under Supreme Court scrutiny

📌 Summary:

• The Supreme Court (a bench led by CJI Surya Kant) is hearing a constitutional challenge to the SHANTI Act — the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act — calling it a "very sensitive legislative policy issue"

• SHANTI repealed the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CLND) Act, 2010; it allows private and foreign companies to operate nuclear plants and caps operator liability

• Under SHANTI, operator liability is fragmented by reactor size: up to Rs 100 crore (reactors of 150 MW or less), Rs 300 crore (150-750 MW) and a maximum of Rs 3,000 crore (above 3,600 MW); beyond the operator's share, the Centre covers the rest up to the SDR ceiling, after which no claim lies

• Supplier liability — the old Section 17(b) "right of recourse" in the 2010 Act — has been removed; a supplier faces liability only if it is written into the contract or if damage was caused with intent

• The protections answer a decade of pressure from foreign reactor makers (US and French) who saw Section 17(b) as deterring market entry; SHANTI aims to draw private and foreign capital toward India's target of 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047

• The petition (argued by Advocate Prashant Bhushan) challenges SHANTI under Articles 14, 19 and 21 — invoking the absolute liability doctrine (1987 Shriram Oleum Gas case) and the Polluter Pays Principle (1996 Enviro-Legal Action case), arguing the caps shift the cost of private nuclear activity onto taxpayers and bear no rational relation to the scale of potential harm

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 Science & Technology — the civil nuclear liability regime and nuclear-energy expansion; it intersects with GS2 themes of judicial review and fundamental rights.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• The SHANTI Act repealed the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CLND) Act, 2010
• The CLND Act, 2010 created a no-fault liability regime with an operator cap of Rs 1,500 crore (300 million SDR)
• India's target: 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047
• The absolute liability doctrine was laid down in the 1987 M.C. Mehta (Shriram Oleum Gas leak) case

🔑 Key Term: Absolute liability — an enterprise engaged in a hazardous activity is fully liable for all resulting harm, independent of fault or negligence and with no exceptions.