Bhopal gas tragedy: SC reserves judgement on plea for enhanced compensation

Successor firms of the Union Carbide contended that the depreciation of the rupeecannot be a ground to now seek a 'top-up' of compensation

The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its judgement on a curative petition by the Centre seeking an additional Rs 7,844 crore from the successor firms of Union Carbide Corporation for extending greater compensation to the victims of the 1984 tragedy which had claimed more than 3000 lives and caused damage to the environment.

Successor firms of the Union Carbide, for its part, contended before a five-judge bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul that the depreciation of the rupee since 1989, when a settlement was arrived at between the company and the Centre, cannot be a ground to now seek a "top-up" of compensation for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the respondents, told the bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Abhay S Oka, Vikram Nath and J K Maheshwari, the Government of India never suggested at the time of the settlement that it was inadequate.

"There are series and series of affidavits starting from 1995 and ending as late as 2011, where the Union of India has opposed every single attempt to suggest that the settlement (of 1989) is inadequate.
Affidavits upon affidavits were filed," Salve said. Now, the actual argument before the court is that the settlement has become inadequate because the rupee depreciated, he contended.

Salve said the settlement of USD 470 million (Rs 715 crore) had taken place because a judicial order was passed by a district judge in 1987.

Salve said nothing has been ever suggested by the Centre or anybody else that the UCC offered more in any negotiation or discussion on settlement than what was accepted between the parties.

Salve claimed the contamination in the soil was first discovered in 1997 after the CBI had taken over the entire premises of the fertilizer manufacturing unit in 1984 following the tragedy and the government of Madhya Pradesh had cancelled the lease to the Union
Carbide India Limited (UCIL).

Salve referred to several conspiracy theories related to the case, saying there was one which claimed then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had met Warren Anderson in a hotel in Paris before the settlement.

He said Anderson had by then retired as the UCC chairperson.

The top court also heard intervenors represented by senior advocate Sanjay Parikh and advocate Karuna Nundy. The top court had on Wednesday told the Centre it cannot act like a "knight in shining armour" and decide the curative plea seeking additional funds from UCC as a civil suit, and asked the government to "dip into its own pocket" to provide enhanced compensation. The Centre wants another Rs 7,844 crore from the US-based UCC's successor firms over and above the $ 470 million (Rs 715 crore) it got from the American company as part of the settlement in 1989.