The Supreme Court on Tuesday ended up rejecting the plea of the Centre seeking more compensation for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, which claimed 3000 lives and had an impact on thousands of families for years, considered one of the worst industrial tragedies in the world.
The Supreme Court dismissed the plea of the Centre seeking compensation worth thousands of crores from Union Carbide for the victims and their families in 1984. The plea submitted by the Centre was seeking Rs 7,844 additional compensation from Union Carbide Corporation (UCC).
The top court also slammed the Centre for not framing an insurance policy for the victims in terms of its undertaking given to the court earlier and termed it as "gross negligence".
"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 the review judgement. The Union cannot be negligent on this aspect and then seek a prayer to fix the responsibility on the UCC," the apex court said, as per PTI reports.
The Supreme Court further said that the Centre had no foundation of legal principle for a top-up to the compensation for the victims. The top court said that a sum of Rs 50 crore lying with the RBI for the victims shall be utilised by the Union of India to satisfy pending claims of victims.
The Centre had filed the curative petition in the apex court in December 2010 for enhanced compensation. On June 7, 2010, a Bhopal court sentenced seven executives of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) to two years imprisonment.
On February 1, 1992, the Bhopal CJM court declared him as an absconder. The courts in Bhopal had issued non-bailable warrants against Anderson twice in 1992 and 2009 before his death in September 2014.
(With PTI inputs)
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