Bhopal Gas Tragedy: SC dismisses Centre’s plea for additional compensation

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday rejected the curative petition filed by the Centre demanding an additional compensation of Rs 7,400 crore from the successor firms of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) for the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, Abhay S Oka, Vikram Nath and JK Maheshwari said that imposing greater liability on Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) is not warranted and reopening the issue will be detrimental to the claimants.

“The method to impose greater liability on UCC is not warranted. We are disappointed in the union for not having addressed this. Nearly 6 times compensation has been disbursed to the victims compared to the pro rata. Centre to use Rs 50 crores lying with RBI to address the needs of the claimants in the Bhopal gas tragedy case. If it is reopened then it will only work in favour of UCC by opening a pandora’s box and will be in detriment to the claimants,” the Court said.

“We are unsatisfied with the Union of India for not furnishing any rationale for raking up this issue after two decades…We are of the view that curative petitions cannot be entertained,” it added.

The successor firms of the UCC had told the Supreme Court that the Indian government never suggested at the time of settlement in 1989 that it was inadequate. The firms’ counsel emphasized that the depreciation of the rupee since 1989 cannot become a ground to seek a top-up of compensation now for the Bhopal gas tragedy victims.

After hearing detailed arguments, a five-judge bench headed by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on January 12 reserved its verdict on the Centre’s curative petition.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing successor firms of the UCC, submitted before the bench that there are affidavits starting from 1995 and ending as late as 2011, where the Centre has opposed every single attempt to suggest that the settlement is inadequate.

The UCC, now owned by Dow Chemicals, gave a compensation of Rs 47 crore in 1989 after the toxic methyl isocyanate gas leak from the Union Carbide factory on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984, killed over 3,000 people and affected 102,000 more.

(With agency inputs)