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CatastropheIndia

India: Court rejects extra redress for Bhopal gas victims

March 14, 2023

The country's top court rejected a government plea asking for an additional 78.4 billion rupees to be paid to victims of the gas tragedy from 1984. An out-of-court settlement was reached in 1989.

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Children walk near the boundary of Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India
Decades after the tragedy, residents complain that they suffer from ill effectsImage: Prakash Hatvalne/AP Photo/picture alliance

India's Supreme Court rejected a plea by the government on Tuesday, seeking more compensation for victims of a 1984 toxic gas leak.

The leak in the central Indian city of Bhopal is known as one of the worst industrial disasters in the world. 

Thousands of survivors say they, their children, and even grandchildren, are still struggling with chronic health problems as a result of the toxic waste left behind by the leak.

What the court said

"We believe this would not be the appropriate course of action or method to impose a greater liability on the UCC (Union Carbide) than it initially agreed to bear," said the five-judge bench, dismissing the new petition.

The court added it was "dissatisfied" with the government for bringing up the issue after many years, with no rationale behind it. It also noted that a settlement can only be set aside on the grounds of fraud, but no such claim had been made by the Union of India, as per Live Law, an Indian legal news site.

The government had sought for the case to be reopened and an additional 78.4 billion rupees (€889 million, $952 million) to be paid by successor firms to the victims.

The Supreme Court directed a sum of 500 million rupees held with the Reserve Bank of India to be used to clear the pending compensation claims, reported NDTV news channel.

What happened in Bhopal

On December 3, 1984, there was a gas leak in the pesticide factory owned by Union Carbide Corporation. More than half a million people were exposed to the poisonous gas, and the official death toll was more than 5,000. 

The government had sued the company, and an out-of-court settlement of $470 million (€439 million) in damages had been agreed upon. 

The Indian government once again approached the Supreme Court in 2010, seeking further compensation for the victims. 

Union Carbide is now owned by Dow Chemical, which denied liability saying it bought the company 10 years after it had reached a settlement with the government. 

Thousands of survivors of the tragedy have said they and their children and grandchildren still suffer from chronic health issues due to the toxic waste left behind. 

tg/rc (Reuters)