The Claims Commissioner and the Nuclear Damage Claims Commission

In one line

A District Judge or a senior officer decides a claim in three months, or the Government sets up a Commission of seven and the Claims Commissioner's cases move to it.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: section 16(1) requires the Claims Commissioner, on receipt of an application, after giving notice to the operator and affording an opportunity of being heard to the parties, to dispose of the application within a period of three months from the date of receipt and make an award accordingly; section 15(2) requires the application to be made, subject to section 18, within three years from the date of knowledge of the nuclear damage by the person suffering it; and section 16(2) provides that in making the award the Commissioner shall not take into consideration any benefit, reimbursement or amount received by the applicant under a contract of insurance taken by him or for members of his family or otherwise.

A currency note, as of September 2026. The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act, 2025 (Act No. 39 of 2025, the SHANTI Act) was enacted in December 2025 but is not yet in force as of September 2026; on commencement its section 91 repeals this Act, pending proceedings being deemed taken under the new Act. Its Chapter VIII keeps the machinery with changes. The Central Government designates a Claims Commissioner, from officers not below the rank of Joint Secretary, within thirty days of notifying the incident (section 54(2)); it may establish a Nuclear Damage Claims Commission of a Chairperson and not more than six Members where the extent and severity of the damage make it expedient, the Chairperson being a person who is or has been a Judge of a High Court (sections 56 and 57); an application must still be made within three years of knowledge (section 64(3)); the Claims Commissioner and the Commission alike must decide within three months, and every award is final and binding (section 66); and the ten and twenty year periods run from the notification of the incident (section 67). Until commencement, the sections below are the law.

The Claims Commissioner

Section 9(2): the Central Government appoints one or more Claims Commissioners for a specified area by notification.

Section 10, qualifications. A person is not qualified unless he is or has been a District Judge, or is in the service of the Central Government and has held a post not below the rank of Additional Secretary to the Government of India or an equivalent post.

Section 11 leaves salary and conditions to the rules.

Section 12, procedure and powers. He follows the prescribed procedure; he may associate with him persons having expertise in the nuclear field or such other persons as prescribed, who are paid the prescribed remuneration; and he has the powers of a civil court for summoning and examining a person on oath, discovery and production of documents, receiving evidence on affidavit, requisitioning a public record, and issuing a commission for the examination of a witness.