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Charan Lal Sahu, Petitioner v. Union of India, Respondent and Rakesh Shrouti, Petitioner v. Union of India and others, Respondent and Rajkumar Keswani, Petitioner v. Union of India and others, Respondents and Rasrin Si and others, Petitioner v. Union of India and others, Respondents

Country/Territory
India
Type of court
National - higher court
Date
Dec 22, 1989
Source
UNEP, InforMEA
Court name
Supreme Court of India
Judge
Mukherji, S.
Singh, K., N.
Ranganathan, S.
Ahmadi, A., M.
Saikia, K., N.
Reference number
AIR 1990 Supreme Court 1480
Language
English
Subject
Waste & hazardous substances
Keyword
Disasters Liability/compensation Hazardous substances
Abstract
Following the Bhopal Gas Leak tragedy when over 3000 people were killed by the leak of a highly toxic Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas from a storage tank at the Bhopal plant of Union Carbide (India) Ltd., the Government of India, acting as parens patriae, passed the Bhopal Gas Disaster (Processing of Claims) Act (1985) to take over and pursue the claims of the victims, as they were unable in their circumstances to pursue their claims fully and properly. The Petitioner challenged the validity of the Bhopal Gas Disaster (Proceedings of Claims) Act, 1985 in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court held that the Act was valid and that the State had rightly taken over the exclusive right to represent and act on behalf of every person entitled to make a claim, as a majority of the victims were poor and illiterate. Consequently, the exclusion of the victims from filing their own cases was held to be proper. The Court also held that the Act only deals with civil liability and as such does not curtail or affect rights in respect of criminal liability.
Full text
Jud.Dec.Nat.pre.pdf
Available in
UNEP/UNDP/Dutch Government Joint Project on Environmental Law in Africa, Compendium of Judicial Decisions on Matters related to Environment, National Decisions, Volume I, Page 167

References

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