123 Agreement, not Hyde Act will be binding on India: FM

The Hyde Act cannot bind India and cannot interfere with the implementation of the Indo-US Nuclear deal, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram maintained today.

''When the 123 agreement is ratified by the US Congress, it will be the last expression of the legislature on the subject and will prevail over any earlier domestic law. Under Article VI(2) of the US Constitution, all treaties made or which shall be made under the authority of the United States shall be the supreme law of the land,'' he said, delivering the convocation address at the prestigious NALSAR University here.

The Hyde Act, which is a domestic law, cannot bind India and cannot interfere with the implementation of the 123 agreement. When ratified by the US Congress, it will be a bilateral treaty between two sovereign countries,'' he said. He exhorted the new-graduates from NALSAR to help fellow citizens understand the legal aspects of the controversy.

Referring to Article 16(4) of the 123 agreement, he said, ''the agreement shall be implemented in good faith and in accordance with the principles of international law. Under customary international law as well as the Vienna Convention on Law of treaties, a party may not invoke provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty.'' ''The 123 agreement has not come into force and even after it happens, India and USA will have to enter into further agreements to fulfil the objectives on industrial and commercial scale,'' he said, expressing disappointment on as to why the issues were not being raised and answered in a logical and rational manner.

''The agreement is only an enabling agreement and no more,'' he said, adding for operationalising it, both the countries had to complete pre-requirements, exchange diplomatic notes and agree upon the date on which it would come into force.

-- (UNI) -- 19MS18.xml

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