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Supreme Court seeks status report on relief to gas victims

Legal Correspondent

Bhopal Gas Peedhit Mahila files application in the Court seeking enhancement of compensation

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to give a status report on payment of compensation to the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, including the amount paid to the families of the dead and those affected by the leakage of gas from the Union Carbide factory.

A three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Justice C.K. Thakker and Justice P. K. Balasubramanyan gave this direction on an application seeking enhancement of the compensation paid to the victims.

The Bench asked the Centre to file its response in four weeks.

The Bench was dealing with an application filed by the Bhopal Gas Peedhit Mahila seeking to reopen the 1989 settlement between the Government of India and the Union Carbide Corporation involving the payment of $470 million, on the ground of inadequacy of the compensation amount disbursed to the victims.

Senior counsel Indira Jaising, appearing for the NGO, said that compensation in the case of death and other illnesses should have been five times the actual amount paid.

Death figure

She said that when the settlement was arrived at it was assumed that about 3,000 had died in the disaster and over one lakh people were affected. But the figures now available showed that the actual death figure was over 15,248 and nearly five lakh persons were affected.

She said the Centre should compensate the victims with additional amount. In the light of these submissions, the Bench asked the Centre to file a detailed affidavit.

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