Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Supreme Court on Thursday reserved the order after hearing the curative petition of gas victims. The hearing continued for three days.
In final argument, the gas victims through their counsel told Supreme Court that Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) did not consider issues regarding health hazards during settlement of compensation. The UCC said it would not pay a penny more if settlement with the Centre in 1989 was set aside by the Supreme Court..
The Centre, in a curative plea, has contended that the 1989 settlement was “seriously impaired”. It has sought additional sum of over Rs 7,400 crore from the pesticide company. The government said there was fresh data of more human suffering caused by the incident.
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul who headed the five-member bench said the government wanted to reopen the settlement after more than 30 years through a curative petition.
Advocate Karuna Nandy, who appeared on behalf of gas victims, said, “We told Supreme Court that many issues like how much MIC gas is hazardous for health, environmental damages and other important issues were not considered during settlement of compensation. These issues have to be considered for additional compensation.”
Additional Advocate General Saurabh Mishra said, “Government wants that UCC should pay additional compensation to gas victims without opening settlement case. The government said there is fresh data of more human suffering caused by the incident. UCC has refused to pay beyond settlement of case.”
