 bill no lxxxix of  2010 the public liability for non-nuclear industrial mishap bill, 2010 a billto provide for stringent punishment and adequate compensation for non-nuclear industrial mishaps in the country and for matters connected therwtih and incidental thereto be  it enacted by parliament in the sixty-first year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) the act may be called the public liability for non-nuclear industrial mishap act, 2010short title, extent  and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of india5(3) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notificationin the official gazette, appointdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires:—(a) "appropriate government" means in case of a state, the government of thatstate and in all other cases the central government;(b) "claim commissioner" means the claims commissioner appointed under section 3 for the purpose of adjudicating upon claims for compensations with respect of non-nuclear and industrial mishaps;5(c) "fund" means non-nuclear industrial mishap fund established under section 15(d) "liability" means the liability of the state or the central government or both for fixing and awarding compensation to the victims of any mishaps causing minor or major injuries or death of the individuals10(e) "mishap" means any incident causing injury or death of any individual due to operational fault in the non-nuclear industry;38 of 2010 6 of 1991(f) "non-nuclear industries" includes industries other than the nuclear industries, which are covered under the civil liability for nuclear damage act, 2010 and the public liability insurance act, 1991, whether government undertakings, private or in joint venture or an autonomous undertaking;15(g) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act3 (1) whoever suffers due to non-nuclear industrial mishap shall be entitled to claim compensation in accordance with the provisions of this actcompensation for nonnuclear & industrial mishaps20(2) for the purpose of adjudicating upon claims for compensation for any mishap, the appropriate government shall notify the mishap within a period of six months from the date of occurrence of such mishap and appoint one or more claims commissioners for such areas, as may be specified in that notification4 a person shall not be qualified for appointment as a claims commissioner unless he—(a) is, or has been, a district judge orqualification for appointment as claims commissioner25(b) in the service of the appropriate government and has held the post not below the rank of joint secretary or deputy collector of the area or any other equivalent post 5 the salary and allowances, if payable to, and other terms and conditions of service, of claims commissioner shall be such as may be prescribedsalary, allowances & other terms and conditions of service of the claims commissioner306 (1) for the purpose of adjudication of claims under this act, the claims commissioner shall follow such procedure as may be prescribedadjudicating procedure and powers of claims commissioner(2) for the purpose of holding inquiry, the claims commissioner may associate with him such persons having expertise in non-nuclear industries or such other persons and in such manner as may be prescribed35(3) any person associated under sub-section (2), shall be paid such remuneration, fee or allowance, as may be prescribed5 of 1908 2 of 1974(4) the claims commissioner shall be deemed to be a civil court for the purposes of discharging his functions under the act and shall have the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the code of civil procedure, 1908407 after the notification of non-nuclear mishap under sub-section (2) of section 3, the claim commissioner, having jurisdiction over the area, shall cause wide publicity to be given, in such manner as he deems fit, for inviting applications for claiming compensation for injuries or death caused due to such mishapinviting applications for claims by claims commissioner8 an application for compensation before the claim commissioner of non-nuclear and industrial mishap shall be made by,—| (           | a   | ) a person who has sustained injury; or         ||-------------|-----|-------------------------------------------------|| (           | b   | ) the legal representatives of the deceased; or || (           | c   | ) any agent duly authorized by such persons    || persons     |     |                                                 || entitled to |     |                                                 || make        |     |                                                 || application |     |                                                 || for non-    |     |                                                 || nuclear and |     |                                                 || industrial  |     |                                                 || mishaps    |     |                                                 |5| 9                                                                                      ||-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| made in such form, containing such particulars and accompanied by such documents as may || be prescribed                                                                          || procedure for                                                                           || making                                                                                  || applications                                                                            || before claims                                                                           || commissioner                                                                           |(2) every application under sub-section (1) of section 9 shall be made within a period of six months from the date of issue of notification1010 on receipt of an application under sub-section (1) of section 9,—award by claims commissioner(1) the claims commissioner shall, after giving notice of such application to the owner and affording an opportunity of being heard to the parties, dispose of the applications within a period of three months from the date of such receipt and make an award accordingly15(2) the claims commissioner shall arrange to deliver copies of the award to the parties within a period of fifteen days from the date of pronouncing the awardlimits of liability2011 the maximum amount of liability with respect of non-nuclear and industrial mishap which causes loss of life to a person shall be rupees ten lakh and in case of permanent injury including immediate and long term health impact to a person shall vary from rupees two lakh to five lakh depending upon the nature of such injurypenalties12 whoever—(a) negligently causes loss of life or personal injury, in any mishap or25(b) contravenes any provisions of this act and rules made under it shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend upto five years or with fine which shall not be less than rupees fifty thousand but which may extend to rupees one lakh, or with both the first offence: provided that if offender fails to pay the penal amount under clause (b) his term of imprisonment shall be extended by another two years:30provided further that if second mishap causing death or permanent injury takes place in any non-nuclear industry by an act of negligence of any person, the operations in that industry shall be stopped forthwithoffences by industries3513 where a contravention under this act has been committed by a private sector or joint venture industry, the owner, or the majority shareholding person who at the time the offence was committed, was directly in charge of, and was responsible to the conduct of business of the industry shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordinglyoffences by government department14 where a contravention under this act, has been committed by any department ofthe government, the head of that department shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly40non-nuclear industrial mishap relief fund15  (1) the appropriate government shall by notification in the official gazetteestablish a fund to be known as non-nuclear industrial mishap relief fund which shall be utilized for paying in accordance with provisions of this act relief under the award made by claims commissioner45(2) the contribution to the fund shall be made by the control and the state government in such proportions as may be prescribed from time to time(3) the appropriate government may by notification in official gazette, shall specify the authority in which the relief fund shall vest, the manner in which the fund shall be administered and the form and manner in which money shall be drawn from relief fund5overriding effects and savings16 the provisions of this act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistentcontained herewith in any other law for time being in force on the subject and the provisions of the act shall be in addition to and not derogation of any other law for the time in forcepower to make rules17 the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purpose of this act statement of objects and reasonsnon-nuclear industrial mishaps causing injury or danger to life in respect of person's engaged in such sectors or industries are on the rise in the country and the affected people are not adequately covered by relevant laws in respect of such industries, which result into the affected individual's or his/their family/families not getting adequate compensation or the offender getting away with mild charges being made against him or the concerned industry's, management it is, therefore, need of the hour that law be passed in this regard for stringent punishment and adequate compensation before the situation goes beyond controlthe public liability insurance act, 1991 was supposed to reflect post-bhopal concernsdespite amendments providing for minimal insurance and interim relief, it proved to be a damp squib insurance does not reflect claims the act is barely used therefore, there is a pressing need for a law to ensure all such disasters other than nuclear ones are covered under it and victims are paid adequate and timely compensationhence, this billprakash  javadekar financial memorandumclause 5 of the bill provides for salary, allowances, etc payable to claims commissionerclause 6 provides for payments to persons associated for adjudicating of claims by the claims commissioner clause 7 provides for wide publicity to be given for inviting application for claims clause 11 provides for a compensation of rupees ten lakh in case of death caused by non-nuclear industrial mishaps in the country and compensation to injured person which may vary from rupees two lakh to five lakh depending upon the nature of injuries clause 15 provides for establishment of non-nuclear industrial mishap relief fundthe bill, if enacted, will involve recurring as well as non-recurring expenditure from the consolidated fund of india though it is very difficult to estimate the expenditure at this juncture memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 17 of the bill gives power to the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill the rules will relate to matters of details onlythe delegation of legislative power is of normal character———— a billto provide for stringent punishment and adequate compensation for non-nuclear and industrial mishaps in the country and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto————(shri prakash javadekar, mp)gmgipmrnd—946rs(s3)—05-08-2011