Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Alternative combination Bench to hear curative petition seeking additional compensation for victims on February 11

Justice Arun Mishra today informed that there would be a change in the Supreme Court Bench that will hear the curative plea filed seeking additional compensation for the victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy..Earlier, a five-judge Bench comprising of Justices Arun Mishra, Indira Banerjee, Vineet Saran, MR Shah, and Ravindra Bhat was slated to hear the petition. However, it was informed by Justice Mishra today that an alternative combination Bench will take up the petition on February 11. .The curative petition was filed in December 2010. In November 2018, the Central government had sought an early listing of the plea. In January 2019, the Supreme Court directed for the matter to be listed in April of that year. Earlier this month, the case was listed to be finally taken up today..The Supreme Court, in its judgment delivered in 1989, had set the amount of compensation to be paid at USD 470 million. This amount was based on an incorrect number of deaths and injuries recorded, the Centre claims..An additional compensation of over Rs. 7,000 crore is being sought by the Centre as compensation towards the victims of the tragedy. The curative petition states that the number of deaths that took place was 5,295, as opposed to the earlier figure of 3,000 casualties..The number of injuries caused by the tragedy was also higher as compared to the earlier figure of 70,000 ,which was taken into consideration by the Court while fixing the amount of compensation, the Centre has stated..On account of the matter involving public interest, the Centre filed an application in November of 2018 seeking an early hearing on the grounds that any further delay in the case will cause irreparable loss and damage..Thousands of lives were lost and over one lakh people were affected by the toxic gas leak at the Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984. The victims have been fighting not just for adequate compensation, but also for criminal prosecution against the executives in charge at the time..The Chairman of Union Carbide at the time, Warren Anderson, was made the prime accused in the case, but was subsequently declared an “absconder” when he failed to appear for the trials. In 2010, a Bhopal Court had convicted seven persons involved with Union Carbide and sentenced them to two-year imprisonment..The curative petition filed in the matter has also prayed for stricter punishment for the convicts, stating that the accused had full knowledge of the fatal design flaws of the plant..The material used in the plant for storage of the toxic gas was sub-standard and was “seemingly motivated by the desire to increase profits with reckless disregard to human life.”.The petition further states that not only was there no evacuation plan in case of a leak, but the safety siren was not working on the night of the incident. It adds that, “the safety and maintenance of the MIC factory was, with full knowledge of the consequences, fatally disregarded. None of the safety features were working.”