Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Centre Tells SC It Will Pursue Added Compensation To Victims

The Central government on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it would pursue its curative petition seeking Rs 7,400 crore as an additional fund from successor firms of US-based Union Carbide Corporation, now owned by Dow Chemicals, for giving compensation to victims of 1984 Bhopal Gas tragedy.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul took note of the submission made by Attorney General R Venkataramani and directed the Centre to prepare a compilation within eight weeks in this regard.

The apex court now posted the matter for hearing on January 10, 2023.

The bench also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Abhay S Oka, Vikram Nath and JK Maheshwari in its order said, "The Attorney General has taken a stand before us that the government would like to press the curative petition. A number of NGOs would like to be impleaded. However, counsel for respondents has questioned the maintainability of the petitions as they have come 19 years after the judgement."

The apex court had earlier asked the Centre to clarify its stand on whether it wants to go ahead with its curative petition filed by the previous government in 2010 seeking additional funds for the compensation to the victims of 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy.

The Centre's curative plea for enhanced compensation for the victims sought a direction to Union Carbide and other firms for over Rs 7,400 crore additional amount over and above the earlier settlement amount of USD 470 million (RS 715 crore at the time of settlement in 1989) for paying compensation to the gas tragedy victims.

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The government sought a re-examination of the apex court's February 14, 1989 judgment which had fixed compensation at USD 470 million, contending that the 1989 settlement was seriously impaired.

The contention of the Central government was that the compensation, determined in 1989, was arrived on the basis of assumptions of truth unrelated to realities.

The Bhopal gas tragedy, touted as the world's worst industrial disaster, had claimed the lives of several thousand people after a deadly gas leaked from the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984.

The tragedy unfolded in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, when the highly dangerous and toxic gas, methyl isocyanate (MIC), escaped from the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) and resulted in the death of 5,295 human beings, injuries to almost 5,68,292 persons besides loss of livestock and loss of property of almost 5,478 persons.

The apex court had already dismissed a curative petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2010 for enhancement of punishment. The agency had approached the Supreme Court, facing public outcry over a Bhopal court order that sentenced Union Carbide executives to two years' imprisonment. Those convicted included former Union Carbide India chairman Keshub Mahindra.

Dismissing the CBI's curative plea in 2011, the top court had held that "no satisfactory explanation has been given to file such curative petitions after about 14 years from the 1996 judgment".

(With inputs from ANI)

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