The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce on Tuesday its judgement on a curative petition by the Centre seeking an additional Rs 7,844 crore from the successor firms of Union Carbide Corporation for extending greater compensation to the victims of the 1984 tragedy which had claimed more than 3000 lives and caused huge damage to the environment.
On a 2010 petition submitted by the Union government, a panel of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, Abhay S. Oka, Vikram Nath, and J. K. Maheshwari would render the decision.
After hearing from senior advocate Harish Salve on behalf of Union Carbide’s successor companies, Attorney General R Venkataramani for the Center, senior advocate Sanjay Parikh and advocate Karuna Nundy for the victims, and senior advocate Sanjay Salve, the top court postponed its decision on January 12.
In addition to the $470 million (Rs 3, 866 crore) it received from the American business as part of the settlement in 1989, the Centre demanded an additional Rs 7,844 crore from the successor companies of the US-based UCC.
The Centre argued in its curative appeal submitted in 2010 that the 1989 compensation decision was based on unfounded truth assumptions. In 2011, the judge gave notice in the case.
The company opposed the plea, arguing that since the curative petition was brought 19 years after the review petition’s decision, the litigation should be concluded.
