New Delhi, March 14
The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the Centre’s 2010 curative petition seeking an additional Rs 7,844 crore from the successor firms of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) for enhanced compensation to the victims of the 1984 tragedy which claimed more than 3,000 lives and damaged the environment.
“Reopening the issue will only open a Pandora’s box and will be detrimental to the claimants,” a five-judge Bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said, rejecting the Centre’s petition.
“We are not satisfied with the Union of India for not furnishing any rationale for raking up the issue after two decades,” said the Bench – which also included Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Abhay S Oka, Justice Vikram Nath and Justice JK Maheshwari.
However, it directed that Rs 50 crore deposited with the RBI be utilised by the Centre to satisfy any pending claims.
Pointing out that it’s the Centre’s stand that all claims have already been adjudicated, the Bench said a settlement can be set aside only on the grounds of fraud and no grounds of fraud have been pleaded by the government.
The top court – which had reserved its verdict on the Centre’s curative petition on January 12 — faulted the Central government for not taking out insurance policies as directed by it.
“The responsibility was on the Union of India to make good the deficiency in the compensation. The failure to take insurance policies is gross negligence on the part of Union and in breach of the judgment of this court. The Union (of India) cannot be negligent on this aspect and seek a prayer from this court to fix responsibility on the UCC,” it said.
The UCC had contended that the depreciation of the rupee since 1989, when a settlement was reached between the company and the Centre, can’t be a ground to now seek a “top-up” amount for the victims.
Now owned by Dow Chemicals, UCC gave a compensation of USD 470 million (Rs 715 crore at the time of settlement 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 1.02 lakh more.
However, in its curative petition filed in 2010, the Centre sought another Rs 7,844 crore from the UCC’s successor company over and above the USD 470 million (Rs 715 crore) it got from it as part of the settlement in 1989.
The settlement of USD 470 million (Rs 715 crore) had taken place because a judicial order was passed by a district judge in 1987, senior counsel Harish Salve had submitted on behalf of the respondents. The government never suggested at the time of the settlement that the compensation amount was inadequate, he had pointed out.
On January 10, the top court had questioned the Centre for pursuing its curative plea seeking additional funds from UCC, saying the government cannot reopen a settlement that was reached with the company after over 30 years.
On June 7, 2010, a Bhopal court had sentenced seven executives of Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) to two years’ imprisonment. The 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 declared him an absconder. Bhopal courts had issued non-bailable warrants against Anderson twice in 1992 and 2009 before his death in September 2014.
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