SC to hear in April Centre's plea seeking addit'l funds for compensating victims

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear in April the Centre's plea seeking Rs 7,844 crore as additional fund from the successor firms of US-based Union Carbide Corporation, now owned by Dow Chemicals, for giving compensation to victims of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said it would hear the central government's curative petition for enhanced compensation for the victims in April.

The Centre is seeking a direction to Union Carbide and other firms for Rs 7,844 crore additional amount over and above the earlier settlement amount of USD 470 million for paying compensation to the gas tragedy victims.

Over 3,000 people had died in the tragedy due to release of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas.

The Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) gave a compensation of USD 470 million (Rs 715 crore) after the toxic gas leak from the Union Carbide factory on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, killed over 3,000 people and affected 1.02 lakh others.

The survivors of the 1984 tragedy have been fighting for long for adequate compensation and proper medical treatment for ailments caused by the toxic leak.

The families of the deceased and people who bore the brunt of the industrial disaster were planning to sign a petition, to be sent to the Supreme Court, requesting it to start hearing a curative petition of the government filed in December 2010 for more compensation.