New Delhi: Taking lessons from the verdict
on the Bhopal gas tragedy the Law Ministry would work on
drafting a "standalone" law to deal with man-made disasters.
"I would be working on a standalone law to deal with
man-made disasters which should be ready in the next six
months," Law Minister M Veerappa Moily told reporters here.
He said the proposed legislation would deal with
issues relating to compensation in case of disasters.
"The Law of Torts in India are not codified...there is
a need to codify such laws," he said.
Law of Torts deal with compensation in cases where
respondents are not directly liable.
To a question, he clarified that the proposed law has
nothing to do with the much-debated Civil Nuclear Liability
Bill with its detractors fearing that it has no provisions for
making foreign suppliers pay adequate compensation in case of
disasters.
The Law Minister had yesterday said that the
government will take steps to fast track the Bhopal gas
tragedy case in the High Court as it has learnt "big lessons"
from the verdict and could go in for a standalone legislation
to ensure that the culprits in such incidents are brought to
book effectively.
"Lot of lessons to be learnt from this... these things
should not be open for interpretation. This is one such case
where justice is delayed and practically denied. I would like
to say justice is buried," he said.
He said the courts in India were not capable of
handling "a situation like this mass disaster."
PTI
