ew Delhi, Feb. 28 -- N The Supreme Court on Friday said that the country needs to create an environment favourable for private players to invest in its energy needs, as it deferred hearing a petition challenging the provisions of the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Act, 2025, which cap the liability of private players and the government in the event of a nuclear tragedy. A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi said, "As a nation, we need to create an environment that people may come. If, unfortunately, damage is caused and the damage is assessable, the private establishment will pay to the extent fixed under the law. The person who has suffered will not be able to seek damages beyond that threshold. May be the government will pay the remaining liability." The bench adjourned the hearing as it sought time to read the petition filed in public interest by former bureaucrat EAS Sarma and five others. "It is a sensitive matter. We would like to examine it first," the bench said, even as it maintained that the issue also concerned India's energy security concerns. "We have to balance the visible, tangible national interest with determinable compensation. The problem seems to be need and capacity. Coal is in shortage, gas we do not have, forests cannot be compromised. Even for harnessing solar power we need lithium for which we have to go to our neighbouring country (China). Where do we go?," the bench observed. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, said energy needs cannot trump public safety, adding the Act's provisions caps private operator's liability as low as Rs.100 crore and even the residual liability to be borne by the government is capped at $300 million....