The Supreme Court told the Central government in clear terms on Wednesday that it cannot fasten additional liability on Union Carbide Corporation at this stage.
These observations were made by the Constitution Bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Abhay S. Oka, Justice Vikram Nath and Justice J.K. Maheshwari, while hearing a curative petition filed by the Central government in 2010.
The Union of India, by way of the curative petition, challenged an earlier Supreme Court order regarding the compensation amount given by Dow Chemicals (now Union Carbide Corporation) to the families of the victims and survivors of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
The top court of the country reiterated the limitation of its jurisdiction under curative petitions, stating that it could not revisit or reopen issues it had earlier considered in review petitions.
While expressing sympathies to those who suffered, the Bench told Attorney General (AG) R. Venkataramani, who appeared for the Centre, that the petition had to fit in the jurisdiction of curative, since the Court was constrained by law.
It said every dispute has to have some closure, adding that the Court cannot keep opening the closed routes.
The AG contended that access to justice was key in the matter, pointing out that the Apex Court had invoked its parens patriae (parent of the nation) jurisdiction earlier with respect to compensation.
As per AG Venkataramani, the Court was looking at a situation which was not fully understood in 1992, the year when the review judgment was passed.
The Apex Court then told the Central government to take a proactive role and increase the compensation from its end, saying that in the presence of a settlement, it could not get into aspects of what would otherwise be a trial.
It further said that a curative petition could not be treated as review of a review judgment.,
On Monday, the top court of the country had observed that it could not turn the case into a suit to determine the compensation paid to victims afresh.
Arguments in the matter will continue tomorrow.
(Case title: Union of India v. Union Carbide Corporation)