Supreme Court refuses to interfere in plea on 'mercury leakage risk' from Bhopal gas waste

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

The top 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 comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi took note of the submissions of senior advocate Anand Grover, appearing for the victims’ association, and said 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.

Justice Bagchi, responding to concerns, said 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,” he said, adding authorities indicated that if any leakage was detected, the structure would be reinforced and sealed further.

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

During the hearing, the CJI referred to the petitioner’s reliance on a report prepared by Dr. Asif Qureshi of the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, which suggested that the presence of mercury in the incinerated waste could pose a contamination risk around the disposal site.

However, the bench held that it saw no reason to interfere with the December 10, 2025 order passed by the division bench of the high court on the issue.

“The petitioner relying upon the report of Dr Asif Qureshi of the IIT Hyderabad states 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 appropriate recourse would be to move the high court along with supporting material showing apprehension for leakage in the future. We request the high court to consider the application on merits and pass such orders as may be required in larger public interest,” the top court said in its order.