Bhopal gas tragedy: SC nixes Centre's plea for more compensation to victims

A Constitution Bench said that the sum of Rs 50 crore lying with the RBI shall be utilised by the Union of India to satisfy pending claims

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the Centre’s curative petition seeking more compensation from Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) by reopening the settlement in the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, which had claimed at least 3,000 lives.

A Constitution Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, Abhay S Oka, Vikram Nath and JK Maheshwari said that any attempt to increase the compensation should have been made soon after the tragedy, and not three decades later.

The apex court also criticised the Centre for not framing an insurance policy for the victims in terms of its undertaking given to the court earlier.

“The responsibility was placed on the Union of India being a welfare state to make up for the deficiency and to take out relevant insurance policies. Surprisingly, we are informed that no such insurance policy was being taken out. This is gross negligence on the part of the Union of India and in breach of the directions issued by this court in review judgement. The Union cannot be negligent on this aspect and then seek a prayer to fix the responsibility on the UCC,” the court said.

The court said that the settlement can be set aside only on the grounds of fraud.

“Either a settlement is valid, or it has to be set aside on the ground that it has been vitiated on the ground of fraud. No such fraud has been pleaded by the Union of India,” the bench said.

The bench observed that it was the allegation of UCC (now Dow Chemicals) that the Union and the State did not detoxify the site immediately and this aggravated the problem. “In any case, this cannot be grounds to seek enhancement. Even if it is assumed that there are more claims than envisaged, an excess amount of funds remain available to satisfy such claims,” the court said.

The apex court said that the sum of Rs 50 crore lying with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) shall be utilised by the government to satisfy pending claims.

The court had on January 12 reserved its order on the curative petition filed by the Centre.

After the verdict, five organisations associated with the case jointly condemned the Supreme Court’s decision.

Dua Associates representing Dow Chemical, said, “This has been a long, eventful battle of over 20 years. My team members and I are elated that we have been able to get a favourable judgement from the Supreme Court in this matter.”

Background

A batch of petitions, including that of survivor/victims’ organisations, sought enhancement of compensation for deaths and injuries caused by the 1984 tragedy. An earlier order of the Supreme Court regarding the settlement amount made by Dow Chemicals/Union Carbide Corporation to the families of the victims and survivors of the tragedy was challenged.

On September 20, 2022, the Supreme Court asked the government if it wanted to pursue its curative petition.

The Centre on October 11, 2022, told the Supreme Court “it is keen” to pursue its 12-year-old curative petition seeking more than Rs 7,500 crore more from Dow Chemicals, Union Carbide and others for deaths and injuries caused by the 1984 Bhopal gas leak.

Union Carbide, which is now a subsidiary of Dow Chemicals, has paid more than Rs 3,900 crore as compensation for the leak from its plant. A curative petition is the last resort available to a person after a review petition is dismissed.