Bhopal gas tragedy: Supreme Court asks SG to take instructions from Centre on plea for additional compensation
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Satya Prakash
New Delhi, September 20
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to spell out its stand on the curative petition seeking an additional compensation of Rs 7844 crore from Dow Chemicals – the successor of US company Union Carbide for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy that had claimed more than 3,000 lives.
A five-judge Constitution Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul posted the matter for hearing on October 11 after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said he needed to take instructions from the Centre on the curative petition filed in 2010.
More than 3,000 people were killed in the worst industrial tragedy due to release of methyl isocyanate gas in the intervening night of December 2 and 3 in 1984 at a pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) in Bhopal. More than one lakh people were affected by the tragedy. The survivors have been fighting a protracted legal battle for adequate compensation and medical treatment of diseases caused by methyl isocyanate gas.
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Under a settlement reached with the Government of India, the company paid an amount of USD 470 million in 1989 towards compensation for the victims. In December 2010, the Centre had filed a curative petition in the top court for enhancing the compensation.
On June 7, 2010, a Bhopal court had convicted seven executives of UCIL to two-year imprisonment in connection with the tragedy. Then UCC chairman Warren Anderson was the prime accused in the case but did not appear for the trial. On February 1, 1992, the Bhopal CJM court had declared him an absconder. The courts in Bhopal had issued non-bailable warrants in 1992 and 2009 against Anderson who died in September 2014.
Earlier, hearing on the Centre’s curative petition seeking an additional compensation of Rs 7844 crore from Dow Chemicals could not take off on January 28, 2020 as Justice Ravindra Bhat recused himself from the case, saying he had appeared for the Centre in the matter.
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