In a shocking move, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition to seek further compensation from the Union Carbide Corporation for the Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984. For those who may not be aware, the Bhopal Gas tragedy was a severe gas leak that killed over 3000 people. Today, it is considered one of the world’s worst industrial disasters, just shy of the Chornobyl disaster.
The centre that had brought forward this case for trying to get this reopened, and their final goal was that Union Carbide’s successor firms must pay an additional ₹7,844 crore to the victims of the gas leak. They argued that the severity of the actual damage to human lives and the environment was not adequately addressed when the settlement was initially done between the people and Union Carbide in 1989.
The constitution bench, comprising five judges, rejected the petition and stated that the court could only accept a case of this nature on the grounds of fraud. That was not what the centre was arguing about over here.
The bench further stated that the centre had not provided any rational reason for bringing up this matter today. It directed that a sum of ₹50 crores kept with the Reserve Bank of India will be used to clear the pending compensation claims.
The successor firms of Union Carbide, represented by Harish Salve, their senior advocate, argued that the depreciation of the Indian rupee since 1989 cannot be made reasonable grounds to seek a “top-up” of the compensation in current times. The firms also stated that the centre had never suggested at the time of the settlement in 1989 that it was inadequate in any way.
During the hearing, the court asked the government to go through its reserve to provide further compensation. Union Carbide, currently owned by Dow Chemicals, had paid compensation that amounted to ₹715 crores at the time of the settlement in 1989.
