my %my_tcldefs = %{$cliParms->{'tclDefs'}};

##</code><code>##

c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -MData::Dumper -le
"my %cliParms = (
   tclDefs => {
     my_var1 => 'a',
     my_var2 => 'b'
     },
   );
 print Dumper \%cliParms;
 ;;
 my %my_tcldefs = %{ $cliParms{tclDefs} };
 print Dumper \%my_tcldefs;
"
$VAR1 = {
          'tclDefs' => {
                         'my_var2' => 'b',
                         'my_var1' => 'a'
                       }
        };

$VAR1 = {
          'my_var2' => 'b',
          'my_var1' => 'a'
        };