Supreme Court to hear Centre's plea for additional fund today

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday adjourned for Wednesday the hearing on Centre's plea, seeking Rs 7,844 crore as additional fund from successor firms of US-based Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) for giving compensation to the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, after one of the judges offered to recuse himself from dealing with the issue.

The matter came up for hearing before a five-judge bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra who said that Justice S Ravindra Bhat has "some difficulty" in hearing the matter.

Expressing his unwillingness to be part of the bench to hear the matter, Justice Bhat said, "I had appeared for the Union of India in the matter when Union had sought review." The bench, also comprising justices Indira Banerjee, Vineet Saran and M R Shah, said that Chief Justice of India S A Bobde would take a call on the composition of the bench to hear the matter.

"We will not take it up today. We are waiting for CJI's order," the bench said, adding, "He (Justice Bhat) has some difficulty. Let us wait till evening today". The counsel appearing in the matter told the bench that they have no difficulty if Justice Bhat would be part of the bench.

However, as per list of business for Wednesday, which was uploaded on the apex court's website, the matter has been listed for hearing before the same bench.