1984 Bhopal gas tragedy: SC refuses to entertain plea, grants liberty to move HC

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a plea claiming that several seriously injured survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy were under-compensated because they were "misclassified" as having temporary disablement or minor injuries.

A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran gave the petitioner organisations the liberty to approach the jurisdictional high court on the matter.

The bench also made it clear that the apex court has not considered the merits of the matter.

Highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate leaked from the Union Carbide factory during the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, eventually killing 5,479 people and maiming over five lakh. It is considered to be among the worst industrial disasters in the world.

When the matter came up for hearing before the bench, the CJI said decades have already gone by.

"Do we possess the expertise that a person should have been classified in A category or B category?" the bench asked.

The counsel for the petitioner organisations said they have made a limited prayer in the plea and are not seeking to reopen anything.

The petitioners sought directions to the Centre and the Madhya Pradesh government to take suitable steps to identify and compensate those who were under-compensated because of them having been misclassified as 'temporary disablement' or 'minor injury' under the provisions of the Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster (Processing of Claims) Act, 1985 and the scheme.

The counsel said a large number of people suffered from kidney failure and cancer due to the gas disaster and were being treated as minor injury cases.