The apex court dismissed a bunch of petitions which sought additional compensation for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy as was agreed by the Centre.
NEW DELHI: Victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy suffered another jolt on Friday when the Supreme Court rejected their plea for additional compensation as was agreed by the Centre under the controversial settlement. At least 3,000 people were killed in the disaster 23 years ago. Thousands of survivors still suffer from health problems.
Victims’ counsel Indira Jaising and then lawyer S Murlidhar, who is now a Delhi HC judge, had moved a petition seeking a hike in the compensation amount. They said the apex court had approved the $ 470 m settlement between the government of India and the UCC that also provided that in case the amount fell short, the Centre would make good. Victims had been pleading for increased compensation as in several cases a meagre amount of Rs 25,000 had been paid to the dependents of those killed.
However, a bench of Justice C K Thakker and Justice H S Bedi dismissed the application by Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan holding that the 1989 settlement with the UCC was arrived at with the intervention of a five-judge constitution bench headed by then Chief Justice of India R S Pathak.
CJI Justice Pathak soon took up the International Court of Justice assignment. The court said a two-judge bench could not reopen and review a five-judge bench’s decision.
Judges said the aggrieved victims could move the Settlement Commissioner seeking increase in the compensation amount. In a related development involving Dow Jones that now owns UCC, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Friday told Parliament that the government has ordered a CBI probe into US firm’s disclosure about paying bribes to officials in India for securing approval for their pesticides.
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