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The Supreme Court today reserved its judgement on the plea of CBI for prosecuting Bhopal gas tragedy case accused, who have escaped with lighter punishment of two-year jail terms, under the stringent penal provision attracting maximum ten years of imprisonment.
The bench headed by the Chief Justice, Mr S.H. Kapadia, will pass its verdict over the petition seeking to recall the apex court's 14-year-old judgment that had diluted the charges against the accused who were prosecuted just for the offence of being negligent.
The bench, which also consisted of Justices Altamas Kabir, R.V. Raveendran, B. Sudershan Reddy and Aftab Alam, asked the concerned parties to file their written submissions within a week in this case.
In its plea, CBI has sought restoration of the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder instead of death caused due to negligence against the accused in world's worst industrial disaster that left over 15,000 people dead and thousands maimed.
The apex court has heard the case on a day-to-day basis and it would now hear the plea for enhancement of compensation from Rs 750 crore to Rs 7,700 crore for the victims.
Action plan
Meanwhile, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has asked the Centre to furnish a time-bound action plan by May 12 for removing the toxic waste from the Union Carbide factory premises in Bhopal.
“Somewhere, the suffering of people has been forgotten in the rigmarole of committees, sub-committees and the task forces,” the division bench of Justices Mr Sushil Harkauli and Prakash Shrivastava said.
“It is undoubtedly the responsibility of the Union government, particularly the environment, health and petrochemicals ministries to get the toxic waste cleared or disposed at the earliest in a best suited manner.”
The bench was hearing a PIL filed by Mr Alok Pratap Singh with regard to the toxic waste lying at the site since the factory closed down.
The court said it would examine whether the erstwhile Union Carbide should be made liable for the reimbursement of expenditure for the clean-up.
Further, the court will also see if Dow Chemicals, which bought Union Carbide, can be treated as its successor in this matter. But the issue of reimbursement must not come in the way of safe and proper disposal of toxic waste, the court said.
The next hearing will be held on May 12.
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