SC declines to entertain plea on alleged contamination of land, water

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider a plea claiming risk of contamination of land and groundwater due to possible leakage of mercury from incinerated waste linked to the Bhopal gas tragedy.

The court, however, asked the ‘Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahyog Samiti’ to approach the Madhya Pradesh High Court which has been monitoring the rehabilitation and related issues for over three decades.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, upon hearing senior advocate Anand Grover for the victims’ association, told him that the high court would deal with the plea expeditiously.

In December 1984, more than 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, claiming over 15,000 lives and exposing millions to toxic gas.

The petitioner organisation alleged that the disposal of waste from the former Union Carbide Corporation plant site could lead to mercury leaching from the incinerated material, potentially contaminating surrounding land and water sources. 

Grover questioned the findings of authorities which reportedly detected no mercury in the treated waste.

“With all the incineration, they now say they have detected no mercury at all. After all that, it is all dumped in a concrete block. Mercury will leach out now. If there is no order to open it up and test, the exercise is futile,” he said.

The court, however, pointed out, trial runs conducted by the oversight committee had reportedly shown no evidence of material leaching.

"They say trial runs show that there is no leeching of material. You say the methodology adopted by the oversight committee is faulty. Now we are not experts. You need to tell them,” the bench said.

The court pointed out, the authorities indicated that if any leakage was detected, the structure would be reinforced and sealed further.

It also cautioned against steps that could inadvertently lead to further contamination merely for verification purposes.

The bench noted the petitioner relied upon the report of Dr Asif Qureshi of the IIT Hyderabad which stated that since a huge amount of mercury is there in the incinerated material there is a risk of contamination around the site of disposal.

“Since all possible precautions were taken, we see no reason to interfere with the division bench order of December 10, 2025,'' the bench said. 

The court felt the appropriate recourse would be to move the high court along with supporting material showing apprehension for leakage in the future. It urged the high court to consider the application on merits and pass such orders as may be required in larger public interest.