Supreme Court Refuses Compensation To Bhopal Gas Tragedy Victims: 10 Things To Know

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected the Centre's curative petition, which asked for an extra Rs 7,844 crore from the Union Carbide Corporation's (UCC) successor companies to provide victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy with higher compensation.

In 2010, the Union government filed a petition, which a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, Abhay S Oka, Vikram Nath, and J K Maheshwari unanimously dismissed because it lacked a foundation in legal principles.

Bhopal Gas Tragedy: 10 Things To Know

• The Union of India is required by the court to satisfy any unsettled claims by using the Rs 50 crore that the RBI has on deposit for the victims.
• The bench also stated that the Union of India was responsible for making up any shortfall in compensation and that the Government had acted with extreme carelessness by forgoing insurance coverage.
• The Centre filed a curative case with the Supreme Court on January 12 seeking greater compensation from Union Carbide Corporation, a US business presently under the management of Dow Chemicals, for the 1984 Bhopal Gas Disaster victims.
• The Supreme Court postponed its judgement on the curative petition.
• The Center requested that the court compel Union Carbide and other businesses to pay the victims of the 1989 gas tragedy an additional Rs 7,400 crore in compensation on top of the Rs 715 crore that was originally agreed upon in its curative appeal for greater compensation for the victims.
• Thousands of people perished in the Bhopal gas disaster, which occurred after deadly gas leaked from the Union Carbide India Ltd pesticide factory on the night of December 2 and 3, 1984.
• 5,295 people lost their lives, 5,68,292 people were hurt, and cattle were lost in the Bhopal gas tragedy.
• The Supreme Court rejected the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) curative motion in 2010, which asked for an increase in the sentence.
• After receiving public criticism over a Bhopal court ruling that sentenced Union Carbide officials to two years in jail, including former Union Carbide India chairman Keshub Mahindra, the agency turned to the Supreme Court for help.
• The top court rejected the CBI's curative argument in 2011, stating that there had been no convincing justification for submitting such curative petitions over 14 years after the 1996 ruling.

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