Bhopal panel to ask Supreme Court for review of verdict

mtoday

New Delhi, June 19: The Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted on the Bhopal gas tragedy, which met for the third time on Saturday, is likely to petition the Supreme Court for a review of earlier judgments on Bhopal said.

"We discussed all the pending legal issues. We also discussed the various legal options in the light of the court judgement," said P Chidambaram, Home Minister and Chairman, GoM on Bhopal.

 

 

In legal terms that would mean filing a curative petition against the Supreme Court judgement since a revision petition has already been rejected earlier.

In 1996, the Supreme Court reduced the charges to the level of a road accident.

Sources have also told that the GoM on Bhopal has decided to move the Supreme Court to take over the Bhopal trust Hospital in view of the reducing funds given by Union Carbide after the disaster.

 

Interestingly, former Supreme Court judge A M Ahmadi, who was one of the two member bench that had watered down the charges against Union Carbide, is the chairman of this trust at the moment.

Sources also say that it has been decided that a new research centre will be set up under the Indian Council of Medical Research to study how the surviving gas leak victims can be treated.

The GoM has also reportedly accepted the Law Ministry’s view holding Dow Chemicals liable for clean-up at the Bhopal site.

Earlier on Saturday Chidambaram told reporters, "We heard all concerned and reached some tentative conclusions."

The Group of Ministers will submit its report to the Prime Minister on Monday but sources say, key decisions include:
•    Extradition request for Warren Anderson to be pursued
•    Already an extradition request is pending with the US government
•    Compensation amount agreed upon during Supreme Court settlement seems to paltry. So, compensation amount to be reviewed and increased
•    Curative petition against Supreme Court judgement on criminal negligence likely. In other words, petitions seeking tougher punishment by reopening the case
•    Curative petition to argue that the Supreme Court order should not have reduced charges
•    Clean up of Bhopal site to begin; Centre likely to spearhead the process
•    Liability of Dow Chemicals to be pursued alongside
The nine-member GoM was reconstituted on June 7 amid raging controversy over the quantum of punishment given to those accused in the case, with the political class in unison terming it as "too little, too late". It began its meetings on Friday.

The Planning Commission has already approved a package of Rs 982 crore for the gas disaster victims.

The Prime Minister has directed the GoM to expedite its work and asked it on June 14 to submit report within 10 days.

The Bhopal GoM will also look at strengthening existing laws to more effectively deal with any future industrial disaster. And the big political message it wants to send: no one will be allowed to go scot free.

But extraditing Warren Anderson is not going to be an easy task. Public sentiment is clearly upper most in the minds of the GoM and they want to make one more serious attempt, after two decades.