The Honourable Chief Justice & His Companion Judges we most humbly bow down to in submission to the holy command of thine sacred robes and pristine offices. All good that seeks to flow for the benefit of the race and time preordained in the Bhopal judgment ought to flow through Thee. The Judgment delivered against the curative petition under criminal appellate jurisdiction of The Honourable Court we believe has been in the nature of a dismissal alongwith the other curative petitions in a way and a response has been to equip the Central Bureau Of Investigations by the Government Of India. Curatives being filed are in the nature of the totality of all that has failed us and us them.It particularly we had felt related to finality of all admissions to our willful cum coerced non obedience and the pronouncements of the Honourable Court would determine the quantum of all disclosures that have been made after the Judgment pronounced by the Court of first instance and the period of time for a pronouncement which is incapable of satiation with some accused still at large and grant of execution horribly bland. For the due respect to the cause and our continued intention being to merely aid the Institution too when much has failed us the write up we wish to submit in due accordance in anticipation too that it may somewhere serve someone in the cause. Present events as unpardonable war crimes too and continued renewed status of beneficiaries of all that kindness and justice confers completes our reason to write.
The Proceedings before the Honourable Court being held as an Open Court as an exclusion to the usual nomenclature of Honourable Judges Chambers concerning Curative Petitions before The Honourable Supreme Court Of India as per Rules, in all humility the purpose of the instant follow up to a write-up is not to undermine any Authority constituted under parliament, vide Law or by the Holy Seal Of The Office of the President Of India but to merely aid the cause in as discreet a manner as equally seeking non representation in any of its forms like the many illustrated later and merely apprising the Honourable Judges the importance of our seeking further urges as even individual constituents of a Democracy in our preferred manners understanding ofcourse that not a single visit to Bhopal have many of us made except academic and further accosting pursuits cum interests especially when proceedings are in their conclusiveness of nature and imperative understandings in present world consciousness with the onslaught of media emerging as the prospective fourth estate under the aegis of people power,abley demonstrated and witnessed post the Honourable Bhopal District Court’s Judgment in 2010,we wish to attain all except the legacies of a failed state. In the field of legal research no greater void-ness has been ever created than with the unwillingness of all parties to the Bhopal Judgments to either abide by the same or vide their blatant abuse and contempt which has unfortunately led to the absence of censures. Suffice to say that Bhopal has been left unaddressed till the emergence of a new world order to the extent of banishing corruption and where Parliament enjoyed the prerogative of legislating laws, the civil society has made a voice heard except that the same has been muffled by its own misconceptions of what true governance in the backdrop of democracy means. We have witnessed the usurpation of an entire process where a single name has been resonated in proxy to attain that which was never meant to be. The belongings of a third world have been the only realities which have stared grimly in the face of adversity. The multiplicity of jurisdictions has only saddled the issue with further burdens of adjudications in regimes which have been only reluctant, hostile and the successive litigations between pro se and pro bono before the Honorable Courts in The United States Of America have had little to say save their reliance on economic progressions vis a vis third worlds’ capacity to embrace advances in the field of science and technology .Trials in the field of uncharted non-proven technology the developing world as the underdeveloped world is an assured breeding ground for companies and acts, omissions, prejudices, covert welfare legislations and bias based on the stands of the successive regimes one could say in this Nation and the inadequacy of willingness in the various quarters. The Indian Judiciary under the stated circumstances and more including its very stand on the respective issues would have thus a much larger role to play and importantly evolve for themselves to deal with a crises raised vehemently at most forums vide Charan Lal Sahu et al vs. Union Of India et al , Sahu et al vs. Union Carbide Corporation et al etc under principles of natural justice and conflict of interest included therewith the doctrine of stifling and nemo potest, successive allowances by the Courts for the various cases to proceed at the initial stage bearing one lakh eighty six thousand victims classified as putative class have been not without hurdles and the dismay of having litigations pursued haplessly by the victims and their representatives in India where the position of law stands as varied and the need of the hour is evolving our laws to rise to the occasion, the need felt becomes all the more imperative where the Union Of India alias Government Of India alias The Central Bureau Of Investigation has realized the virtue of Filing a Curative Petition seeking the following as reported by dailies, newspapers and journals around 03.12.2010:
Revised Compensation of more than Rs. 5,500 crores for victims and consequent environmental degradation from Dow Chemical Company & Union Carbide Corporation.
Reports and similar findings around 28.02.2011 informed as follows:
Notices to UCC & Dow had been issued for increasing compensation from Rs 750 crores to Rs.7, 844 Crores. Notices were interalia reported to have been issued to the Companies too seeking a transfer of the Writ Petition Before The High Court Of Judicature At Madhya Pradesh.
The new claims were based on three footings:
1) There had been an incorrect assumption of the deaths, injuries and losses,
2) It included expenses incurred by the Madhya Pradesh High Court and the various Central Governments and finally for subsequent Environmental Degradation. It would be interesting however to note the intricacies of this arrangement explained further which is, as on February 1989 the compensation amount of Rs.675.96 crores which if had been invested on yearly basis as per London Central Bank offered rates, as on 22.08.10, it would have amounted to Rs.5,786.07 Crores taking into consideration the devaluation of the rupee, international rates, purchasing power parity and inflation index.
The actual amount of compensation would vary and that is the saving clause even if forcibly read into it by The Honourable Bench Of Five Judges or any such Constitutional Bench set up in response to the catastrophic denials of the accused individuals and the Corporations which had and have naturally sought the attraction of the piercing of veil principle. Their Lordships would have to see beyond that which is placed before the August Bench. The presence of Dow Chemical Company alongside Union Carbide Corporation is certainly the mother of all chemical unions and a brief historical account alongside all that has transpired in The U.S Of A and a scouting corrupt Bharat has many a questions to be answered. Not for the purpose of awarding justice to the victims alone but to the very theory of justice while recording without fear and favour the reasons accorded to this travesty of justice.
MIC,s processes have been the most intriguing and prominent enough the absence of any data on the certainty of remedies including antidotes considering that in the lackadaisical years of 1984 and the later 80s when the world bled at places including Chernobyl too, the horrows of mass murder were the sole remnants which ever stared back leaving behind a greater curse of waste which in the years of neglect, tardy processes, red tapeism and politically incorrect bed fellows with corruption writ large on all of it, has remained unaddressed till date.The sarcophagus has been the only remedy that all the atomic energy wizards have been able to figure out.Within it ought to lie enriched plutonium amongst other extremely high radio active substances in less extreme quantity considering the certainty of many a things as the eternal life span of radioactive material. The Nation has been most reluctant to understand this unfortunately. The cash for votes scam with currencies bearing the old Rs. which has been done away with/proposed to be so , we hope there is some affirmative recognition now presuming that Parliament has resolved to keep its privileges intact under the added privilege of separation of powers in the Indian democratic set up and the discretionary privileges particularly. The nuclear debate pitched against liability fails as framed within the constructed method in our nation. The virtues of technology should not be for the bane of mankind. Dow Chemical Company’s careless acts of dumping insecticides and pesticides as Dursban which have been banned for the similar usage in the United States are a hot favourite in India. Another nation’s foreign corrupt trade practices legislation confers the benefit to Indians thence.( As per Securities Exchange Commission records and Newspaper Reports, a senior official in the Central Insecticides Board had received about Rs. 16Lakhs for registering Dow’s Pesticides between 1996 and 2001 and other state officials had received the remaining amount summing up to about Rs. 38 Lakhs for facilitating the distribution and sale of Dow’s pesticides with Dow pursuant to which Dow Chemical Company in fact had been fined 3,25,000 $ by the S.E.C under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for having paid these bribes to the tune of 2,00,000$).
The write up sent in June 2008 was post a certain period which had conferred a certain privilege of spending time with the victims, the survivor groups and many more particularly for having harbored certain similarities and traits concerning UCIL and particularly ones that have had a similar resonance whence thoughts of radiation and technology. The endeavour to progress and achieve sound technological balance could only hold us in these situations at good stead. The evils of disobeyance and board resolution proposing the reduction in the Indian plant site has had many a theories and the memories of Bhopal gushed in only post 2010 to the entire country. The debate which has ensued has raised many a questions and demands from all ends have been raised in most forums. The write up of 2008 which follows was post the anguish of seeing many of the victims and survivor groups getting brutalized for having to come to seek their rights or the rights for others. The response from the Honourable Court being to either elect for electronic submission or traditional method of filing, there however was communicated that a matter on the subject written to the Court about was already pending before the Honourable Court. A reply to the extent however of knowledge being tabled before, our faith we continue to instill as we had whence in truth seeking the instillation of the faith in 2008 too except now anything more than a simple observation could be reason for much rejoice given our understanding that the Honourable Court has yet not abnegated any of its privileges towards a consummate adjudication to any extent. Ours too we had not whence writing as follows in utmost humility and acknowledging reply too in greater humility with the occurrence of the same not a requisite whence guided towards some greater public and sect too vis a vis benefits by Honourable Courts as Ours too subject to the limitations of building consensus amongst nations irrespective of their belongings to all that causes sores and injuries to the body and mind:
The statistics are an aberration to quantify liabilities in nations afflicted by hunger, poverty, unemployment and governmental sanctified proof of their existences substantiating if ever there be any claims for their mysterious disappearances. If at all they do, then these are figures juggled by the most skillful of defendants to excuse themselves of their very liability to cough up the coffers and in situations of corporate abuse laced with the violators of a legal persona and the story mired in political filth and the stench of lackadaisical administrative non performance, the concoction proves even more lethal than the most quizzical yet boring judgment pronounced by any court of law. Imperative questions raised are nevertheless profound but for the lack of institution of any rights in even the simplest of common parlance makes merely a mockery of the entire process. It spells more so the pronouncements of a failed state. Hopefully, we would not be in contempt given our trust in the judiciary, the administration and the legislature failing not we assume that collectively they comprise the Union of India. Bhopal has not remained an isolated case of corporate abuse anymore than of its greed of repeatedly throwing up greater figures to those already seeking ailment since the last two decades and more. Many have perished, more than that have permanent impairments and the rest are presumably groping with the idea of uncertainty between development and arrested development in the threshold of an idea which keeps one guessing the possibilities of getting repeatedly abused under the guise of compensation. Compensation that has been bargained as never before and sought to be returned too in like manner for having bridged the divide between commission and non commission of a crime. By the most skillful of lawyers, policy makers, organisations and Judges it has been hounded supposedly to the minutest of details and in any other developing or developed nation, it would have been catastrophic for the bourses. A crime of such a magnitude deserves not reasoning but action inspite of everything gone horribly wrong the night of 2 nd and 3rd December 1984 and of course beyond remains irreversible. The manifestations of the night sealed the fate of the victims and accounted for greater responsibility on the part of the State as the guardian of the rights of its effected populace in the grandeur definition of a social welfare state and hence its representation as parens patriae for the hapless souls in the United States District Court, S.District of New York seeking a claim of 3.3 billion dollars instantly after the incident. The objection by Union Carbide Corporation of forum non-conveniens was acceded to by Judge Keenan. Law Suit thrown out of the U.S Court, recourse lay only in filing a claim before the District Court at Bhopal by the Union Of India .The order for Rupees 350 crores as interim compensation was fiercely contested by Union Carbide India Limited to be reduced to Rupees 250 crores.Both parties interestingly enough went in appeals separately. Union Carbide Corporation’s stake in UCIL was 51% and not approximately 50 % as made to appear at several instances and further sold to McLeod Russell India Limited named Eveready Industries India later. Union Carbide’s presence in India had however been much before the Bhopal Plant selling whole lot of products and mostly batteries and a 100% subsidiary of Dow Chemicals, Transition Sub Inc. merging with UCC, Dow Chemicals as on date owns the Bhopal plant ; certainly Its liabilities in as good a capacity as it inherited the assets. While strangely enough the permission of the court allows such plethora of transactions and sabotage ,more precisely possible sabotage as made out by the defendants have however been never proved. Willful negligence paramount, liability in tort becomes a very precarious position in accounting liability. Broadly enough, there are indisputably civil and criminal liabilities. If theoretically, civil offences were to as great a substitute that their redressal could override penal action, all woes in cash rich and even cash strapped worlds would be over and a precondition that agreeing into agreements in the nature of settlements towards compensation would absolve them of contesting any proceedings that may be brought against the offender at later stages and more importantly that those subsisting whether civil or criminal would be quashed and not even kept at abeyance, the rule of law and principles of natural justice would succumb at the altar of such grotesque juridical developments. The situation worsens when the exact magnitude of the loss cannot be calculated to calculate liability towards even payment of compensation. Moribidity factor of course subsisting, the element of manifestation in future victims accounts to a mind boggling scenario seeking expensive medical interventions, speciality medical aid, rehabilitation on all possible fronts and most importantly, the continuity of aid more so in the scenario of newly appointed successors of the ghastly plant read UCIL. Their inheritance is not merely to the plant or even say tank 610 but the environmental aspect that supports life and complements humanitarian aid and most importantly their liabilities under international tort law with principles of precaution, precautionary principle and polluter pays principle laid down in very clear terms towards due adherence by the Honourable Supreme Court presently monitoring the various remedial aspects of the tragedy. The case against union carbide in its various forms is far from over and piercing the corporate veil would be the least of the urgencies notwithstanding the very revision by the court of the decision and modality of permitting the sale with the matter sub judice and in the absence of any sort of finality in the conclusiveness of proceedings. Phosgene gas in reaction with monomethylamine produced methyl isocyanate and methyl isocyanate made to react with alpha napthol produces the insecticide Sevin or MIC-Methyl Isocyanate which if it comes in contact with droplets of water or ounces of metal dust releases a fatal gas into the atmosphere. It was to be therefore kept under near zero temperature. Under influence of heat, it broke down into several molecules including hydrocyanide acid whose antidote sodium thiosulphate was never disclosed asmuch as its effect under situations of extreme temperature, more so heat. The plant was to be equipped with decontamination apparatus and flares to neutralize or burn it in case of accidental leakage while one of the primary safety regulations prohibited the storage of phosgene when not in production though ascertainment of phosgene and monomethylamine were the prerequisites of the preparation of MIC unlike the practice in its U.S plant. The technical knowledges patented in the U.S have been later sold to corporations including Reliance though Indian Oil revoked the contract at a later stage. The compensation amounts stated to have been meted out in the official site are as per figures reached during the settlement stage pronounced to be such. As on 1989/90, the figures furnished were 155203 towards no injury out of a total of 361966 medical folders prepared and 358712 of these evaluated. Temporary disability on account of permanent injury at 1313 ,Permanent total disability pegged at 40 and deaths to be at the exact figure of 3824 seems quite unacceptable and is far from the actual figures inspite of the court having made provisions for latent manifestation under the law of toxic tort. The amounts realized interestingly enough for the compensations claimed would have to be weighted against proceeds. An escrow account would have to be in its entirety till the pendency of litigation where liability importantly is being endeavored to be calculated and identified against the severest of civil and criminal offences involving culpable homicide. A conveyed position that in the midst of uncertainty where no charges have been filed by the trial court and extradition sought from the government of the American officials in charge of the companies affairs on that fateful night merely ridicules the position of the State in trying to emerge as the upholder of the basic fundamental rights of its citizenry. While the ministry of chemical and fertilizers in 2005 filed an application in the High Court of M.P to direct Dow Chemicals to pay an advance of rupees 100 crores as part of the polluter pays principle and the Prime Minister promises a delegation to be dishonoured later that action against Dow Chemicals would be intiated,Dow Chemicals seeking to be absolved of their legal liability and consenting towards clean up of the plant and its immediate surroundings; there is little that has been even endeavoured to be achieved. As per ICMR figures, there were 23000 dead and 7000 to 10000 killed within 72 hours of the toxic release and 40 tonnes of MIC and other gases released as per the corporation’s own figures. The Walk From Bhopal for the second time for the 50 odd protestors having been of little consequence to seek an audience with the Prime Minister some of them suffering from ailments themselves though of sufficient ability aided by the perseverance to fructify their endless struggle till date, the courts however for their part could rise to the occasion. The Indian mindset has been reared on the mindset of seeking judicial interventions and the very courts that have settled issues with their variance of agreements and disagreements, a larger constitutional bench certainly should not be in conflict or be disrespectful to the earlier judgments of the Honourable Apex Court. Admittedly it is seeking more than the Courts themselves would ever seek but empathy arising out of the present dire situation when all hope has been lost and little achieved so far, alleviation of suffering of a people who have not had much recourse from the very beginning, a judicial intervention in the modality of appropriate adjudication certainly should not be an impossible feat more so for the demands yet to be satiated and those born after those initial dreadful years.While the present write up finds its way to the Honourable Supreme Court for redressal and there has been a leakage of Chlorine gas at the Tata Motors plant at Jamshedpur and a Chlorine infection unlike its well acquainted term has little to its aid in the form of some antidote, innumerable people have been admitted to the hospitals. Strangely enough released the same day, a visit four days later, the air was still pungent and a vomit on the way back with a sore throat a remembrance for the day, theres an air of uncertainty of how corporate India even after two decades and more since the Bhopal tragedy and all these years since India’s independence reacts.Incidentally it was Ratan Tata himself who as head of the Indo-U.S Forum has publicly made it well known in the corridors of power that be that Dow Chemicals should be absolved of the civil and criminal liabilities. Those however in the United States Of America are more responsible and in the corporate history of the U.S no mishap or sabotage however one might quote it to be to suit ones interests, has been taken down lying. The offenders have been certainly taken to task and propaganda in whichever disguise for ones own subservient interest banned by a nation which has instilled its trust in God even it were to seem that for some, He were to only reside there.
THE PRESENT WRITE UP IS MOST HUMBLY SOUGHT TO BE TREATED AS PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION BY THE HONORABLE CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA AND HIS COMPANION JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA.
THE PROTESTORS AT JANTAR MANTAR SINCE THE LAST 100 DAYS AND MORE ARE MERELY AN INSIGHT INTO THE NIGHT THAT UNFOLDED IN 1984 AND THAT WHICH THEY HAVE ENDURED SINCE 1984.THEY ARE SEEKING AN AUDIENCE WITH THE PRIME MINISTER AND HAVE TABLED THEIR DEMANDS.THE ONLY RESPONSE THEY HAVE RECEIVED SO FAR IS DESPAIR AND DENIAL.THE GROUP OF MINISTERS ,A COMMISSION AND A LEGISLATION BESIDES THE BARE NECESSITIES OF WATER AND A SIMPLEST OF ALL LIVELYHOOD IS STILL A FAR CRY AWAY WHILE THE FINAL FIGURES WHICH EVERY NEW BIRTH OF A DEFORMED CHILD THROWS UP IS BECOMING COLLOSAL BY THE DAY.LEGAL ACTION AGAINST DOW AND UNION CARBIDE STRANGE AS IT MAY SOUND AFTER ALL THESE YEARS STILL REMAINS OUR FOREMOST DEMAND.
Post the afore-submission, mentioned briefly in the covering letter to The Hon'ble Chief Justice Of India, protestors and survivors including children and women were mercilessly beaten up by the police, the women strip searched, children as young as six years old have been bruised, physically assaulted and the ratio of twenty policemen to an individual in striking the blows occurring, they have been further sent to Tihar Jail on judicial custody. Bail provisions on grounds of morality have purposely not been availed of and living conditions of the protestors and survivors are as abysmal as they can ever get. A section of Congressmen and Parliamentarians in the U.S.A and U.K have however written to Dr. Manmohan Singh expressing their anguish at such developments in a nation which is aspiring to be amongst the developed world.
The need we have for the exemplary Judicial Order as displayed so often, to merge them as we have so often with stare decisis too when required and at such instances where we lack the abilities to measure up to any authority we should ever be understood to be merely informing the Court for the application of the wisdom of the Honourable Courts. Our laws lack implementation and the absence of willingness cripples the nation and the world too. The populace who had come out in support at the India Against Corruption with or without any particular figure or prejudgemental persona if were to simply take the pledge that they shall not pay a single rupee more than that permitted under Law, quite a many of the nation’s sorrows would be healed considering that the Pay Commission Recommendation nearly triples the salary of all government employees, the primary reason being to satisfy the simply unaffordable urge. Corruption levels in corporate establishments a bigger mode to launder and stash unaccounted wealth through the seemingly effective covert mode of awarding contracts and the vendors is a truth which the Nation someday would have to wake up to and for an iron hand to deal with all of this, it has to be through the transparent tri-partite set up which the nation at large ought to achieve. The law of torts for their able application towards any consummate adjudication could be and hence ought only be evolved and applied by the Honourable Court included therewith its jurisdiction wherein most demands made as on date by the survivor groups and activists should see the day of restoration of the criminal justice system and equally liability towards all claims arising on account not merely the 1984 incident but as to serve equally as a deterrent to those intending to participate in unholy alliances towards uneven gains, the burden of which the tax payer alone would have to carry till he is poorer and the corrupt neta with his cohorts in the entire system only richer. The machinery may we reiterate is almost perfect while it is only these spanners in the works and clogs in the wheel which derails all processes. The Honourable Court however for its benevolence, understanding and application of the sum of all its innate jurisdiction cum ability should equally understand the sacrifices made by the activists and people at large who have contributed to the cause of the victims and the families and successive generations of people who demised then and later over the years. These are ordinary people who have had to sacrifice many a things though admittedly the choice of path was theirs. In their quest for transparency, world order trickling down equally to the last man have had to rage and oppose the defects in implementation at all stages and in the entire process of lawful opposition, knowledge cum consensus build up, reinstatement privileges and securing freedom of life in dignity have had many a cases filed against them under the widest spectrum of most charges necessarily given the number of years that people have been compelled to part with against their preferred choices though most of them bearing the burden of the criminal justice system which in any nation if were to become tardy would be suicidal for the very nation and the fraternity. Societal standards on corruption could be varied in the instances and a unanimity that post the Bhopal District Court Judgment, the responses and disclosures have been quite confirming of the fact that truth alone ought to prevail; all wrongs that survivor groups and activists have been accusing all those who have wronged at various quarters stands to be the correct while they as a gesture to curatives in their finality of adjudications should be absolved of the crimes they have been and would seem in apparent clarity of thought charged under/with to stand trial. The reasonableness of application of any law that would not survive to the institution of any charges where mens rea as has been more than proved over the world for the accused persons and their corporations, they similarly cannot be applied on a sect who have had no interest but to unearth and opine on all that has gone wrong and particularly that which can be rectified in whichsoever form. The Courts however for their part would be the competent authority in such matters and particularly given our faith in them as they have so often restored while unabashedly we reiterate our insistence on the due process and a criminal justice system constructed with the sole intent of punishing offenders, habitual offenders, murderers, mass murderers, squanderers and equally the abettors. There can never be any ambiguity on these fronts and assumptions that we are seeking the dropping of any charges or going slow on the accused and even those who ought to be equally hounded with ferociousness for the benefit of the activists and survivors may be understood as unfounded and ought be nibbed in the bud. Such presumptions would be nothing more than figments of ones imaginations particularly where the insistences by the learned counsels for the defendants have been the adaptation of the procedure established by law during the curative proceedings. The demands are not to ones own benefit but to the cause particularly at instances where we as a Nation elect to be wiser given our obligation to apprise as the innate right without seeking representation equally understanding the Nation at large has discussed it and all demands which arise do so from these quarters too and the benefit of understanding that has ever been bestowed on Honourable Courts under the auspicious legacy and sanctity of the Judiciary stems from our belief and understanding of Democratic Institutions. These we believe exist only in harmony and humility equally. The Debate in Parliament was resounding even if ritualized as observed once too in the debate, the stand however of some observed has only abled the belief of corrective relief and remediations as expressed by many too. The Records of the Lok Sabha Proceedings should concretize our stand amidst the wide spectrum of agreeables and disagreeables vis a vis those in agreement or simply the ignorant lot who elect to be indifferent to causes and effects of incidences in this nation and the world. Under the able aegis of The Honorable Speaker Arjun Charan Sethi, Shri Bali Ram the BSP M.P from Uttar Pradesh quotes the faulty design of plant as related by CBI Counsel Sahay and in almost the same breath, the award of interim compensation to victims and the environment even in the absence of the actual calculation of the total figures towards damages and other figures which would ultimately be the liability of the polluter, tortfeasor and probably accused too (British Petroleum in this case as also for starters) if found to be fulfilling all the basic criterias that ordinarily qualify an accused for having committed any such crime in concert with any other accused bearing a similar vested interest irrespective of the magnitude of the crime ,the corporations and entities besides the conferments of the Courts that would be invoking their inherent jurisdictions equally so as those conferred upon them. Sh. Manganilal Mandal of the Janata Dal (United) from Jhanjharpur, Bihar spoke on the tenure of the Deve Gowda and I.K.Gujral Governments at the Centre period, the CBI’s stand on the 1995 Judgment, the victims being barred and the UOI ordinance; 1996-97 on the stand of the Courts on Section 304A of the I.P.C, the natural methodology of FIR, Accused and then on the curative petition perplexing equally the fact the U.S Government had declined deportation on the grounds of no evidence and no charge. Witnesses and evidence could never have got undermined more than thence and equally now too and his suggestions were towards extradition, greater compensation and also imposition of abetment charges against the Government and the concerned Ministries/Ministers. Sh. Pinaki Mishra B.J.D M.P from Puri, Odisha besides observing that the debates in Parliament since 1984 having become a ritualistic outpouring of sorrow, a judgment delivered after 25 years and the subject of toxicity alongside the premium which an U.S Passport carries vis a vis the greater protection granted to its citizenry anywhere in the world the interesting observation made post Honble Speaker Francisco Sardinha taking over the proceedings was that Tort Law in India has been weak while a Curative Petition as proposed would be nothing more than a laughing stock. We disagree and our disagreement stems from the belief that his able concluding suggestions and participative involvement in the democratic process which at the very outset facilitated the Debate in Parliament have been towards the quantum of punishment, the very question on the Rule of Law and finally Compensation; matters which no self righteous person would disagree need to be revisited. Shri Prabadu Panda, the C.P.I M.P from Medinipur, West Bengal correctly pointed out the defects with the final correct figure unascertained, the GOM recommendations (the activists sent to Tihar in 2008 were for having demanded the constitution of a GOM incidentally),that there had actually been a travesty of justice, questions raised were on the very role of the C.B.I sought to be investigated and acted upon by the GOM particularly over the dilution of charges and the safe passage which was given to Warren Anderson. His able mention of the Nuclear Liability Bill was however diluted by a GOM recommendation which suggested that the Public Exchequer was to be dug into for decontamination of the site. The Honourable Courts have been more seized of the matter and in the variance of their acknowledgements on the subject, the burden on the exchequers have been almost ruled out in the recent years and rightly so considering the magnanimity of the loss of lives, community belongings and the very principle of righteousness alongside Strict Liability. Sardar Sher Singh Gauba, the S.A.D M.P from Firozepur, Punjab with his mention of Operation Blue Star, a reiteration of the 1984 riots suggested topics concerning Compensation, Anderson being compelled to Stand Trial and Nuclear Mishaps against the very theory of Limited Compensation; the bell is rung. Comrade Basudev Acharia the C.P.I M.P from Bankura, West Bengal revisiting the CSIR Reports suggests determining culpability and equally questioning the safety rules etc.,critically seeks examination of the 1996 Supreme Court Judgment diluting Culpability alongside Charges from 304 to 304A,the safety audit committee’s findings and suggestions, the six month period prior to the 1984 mishap and the reasons accorded to inaction on the part of the company, communicated there was a lot of MIC stored and sought strongly the invocation of the Extradition Treaty for grounds more than sufficing Mass Slaughter. The disclosures made by Joint Director Of C.B.I post the 2010 Judgment according to the Learned Member were equally resonated to compliment his stand towards all that stood wronged to be settled for the measly 450 Million $ with victims compensated only excluding those were awaiting receiving Rupees 12,000 to 15,000/- only while the Government Of India’s reluctance towards Non-Contesting the Supreme Court Judgments notwithstanding the fact that the C.B.I was never allowed to visit the West Virginia plant of Union Carbide Corp there was room only for remediation at all fronts. The site clean-up remaining now the Liability of Dow Chemical Co./its Affiliates there was the imperative need for the GOM to recommend an Additional Compensation of Rs. 1,500/- Crores in the form of compensation (to commence remedial actions atleast considering the stand of the Government on the various issues).The medical treatment of the victims and survivors, the 5 square kilometer Environmental Clean-Up should be the responsibility of Dow with an adequate critical observation of the Civil, Criminal Liability and Letter Regotary and the recent issues emanating from the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill where Liability has been pegged to a fixed sum were the observations, discoveries and suggested remedial measures by Mr. Acharia.Shree Kailash Joshi, B.J.P M.P from Bhopal had the immaculate observation and helplessly resonated only that which have been pressed for want of inaction since the last 3 decades and more. The Master Plan exclusion, the pre-existence of slums ,the 1981 mishaps when there was demise of workers, the excruciating death of humans and animals on the streets alone and the gruesome sight of dead bodies piled in the period of 2 to 3 days equally in 1984.His able observations surmised the emergency too when the Learned Parliamentarian was jailed and commencing on the harshest reality of corrupt systems and their cursed conferments adequately stated that it was on 06.12.1984 that the C.B.I was given charge, the 8 accused were let to go on Bail with C.B.I never opposing any of the grants and motions while contrary to the usual procedure ( inspite of it as archaic as we know it to be alongside a system of precedents and not Judge made Laws and even subversions that Natural Law for the justification of all adaptations could offer as even solace) Mister Warren Anderson was awaiting a oh so fair trial not in any court room but in the Guest House of the company (which no person in the world going by the media revelation post the 2010 judgment could deny had almost doubled up as the Congress’s forte for meetings, gatherings and celebrations and the news clip depicting the since demised Arjun Singh the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister in a bandh gala to cover his torso and a Union Carbide helmet for his scalp only strengthens the demands for a present non-corrupt India and particularly generation) while Bail obtained with equal ease was out of court. {On a newstrack byte, He (Mr. Warren Anderson) had quoted in no uncertain terms, “Bail or No-bail, Goodbye India”}. A volley of accusations doing their rounds concerning the former Chief Minister too and the able defense to the impromptu opposition by the Ruling class struck off the record as directed by Honble Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Debate for once seemed to be anything but politically motivated with factual emphasis tabled on the floor of the House to which Shri Joshi is forced to conclude partially amidst ruckus caused by the Ruling party members.Sajjan Singh Dewas, the INC member of Parliament from Dewas, Madhya Pradesh resounds early in defense of it being Sh. Arun Jaitley who as Law Minister had absolved Warren Anderson prior to Sh. Joshi being permitted to conclude in no unclear terms that Warren Anderson should be produced and tried in Bhopal, India; the dilution of charges from 304 to 304A be restored, the committee constituted under J.Ahmedi be diluted(Ahmedi J had incidentally resigned post the judgment with accusations flying of his conduct vis a vis breach and over-exertion of privileges).The final figures having been never ascertained conclusively and briefly broaching on the figures of Rs. 10,5 & 2 Lakhs respectively ,Shri Kailash Joshi gravely questions the role of the CBI and demands rhetorically that a Joint Parliamentary Committee be constituted to enquire cum probe the role of the CBI.Shri Kalyan Banerjee the Trinamool (A.I.T.C) Member of Parliament from Srerampur,West Bengal citing the 2001 episode drops precariously in the spirit of the Debate the names of Mr.Soli Sorabjee and Shree Arun Jaitley while reminding the other members of 1996 questions the non-action by the other parties in 1996 and in conclusion ably praises Dr. Manmohan Singh for having constituted the GOM.It would be needless however to reiterate that the demands for the constitution of a GOM and an audience with the same Prime Minister had landed the victims and activists at Tihar Jail. Their primary demands including legislative prowess amongst others were:
1.) Setting up a Special Commission on Bhopal to address the following issues facing the People (And their Children) by Union carbide’s poisons for the next 30 Years-
a.) Medical care research and monitoring,
b.) Social and Economic Rehabilitation,
c.) Environmental Remediation.
d.) Safe Drinking Water;
2.) Taking Legal Action Against Union Carbide & Dow Chemical –
a.) Pursuing the Ministry of Chemicals’ application in M.P High Court seeking money for toxic cleanup in Bhopal from Dow Chemical,
b.) Moving for extradition of Warren Anderson and the authorized representative of Union carbide Corporation,
c.) Revoking approval given to Reliance Industries for purchase of Union carbide’s Unipol Technology which is Intellectual Property that should be confiscated because the Corporation is absconding since 1992 &
d.) Cancelling Registration for all three pesticides, including Dursban that were obtained by bribing Agriculture Ministry Officials as established by Securities & Exchange Commission, U.S.A.
S. Semmalai the AIADMK member from Salem reminds the House of his opposition to the Plant before and recommends the requisite site clean-up and Nama Nageshwar Rao of the T.D.P speaking on the logical subjects of FIR & Chargesheet following and a Non-Bailable Warrant still pending against the Proclaimed Absconder, he cites the 3.3 Billion$ Law Suit brought immediately after the incident to the present 20 Billion$ Interim Compensation announced against British Petroleum with only 13 deaths occurring. Smt Yashodhara Raje Scindia, the Gwalior M.P from Madhya Pradesh resonates equally as the many times it has been that it is yet the largest man made tragedy which could have been avoided and quotes equally the British Petroleum compensation by the Obama Administration. Her suggestion she concludes on the subject of compensation. Yet another man of the moment on whose Ministries shoulders’ part of the maximum onus lay, Shri Srikant Jena (The Minister Of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers) citing Shri Pinaki Mishra calls for the urgency of newer Laws while finding favours in the Claims Commission constitution and the Welfare Commission he places reliance on the Revised Compensation by the GOM. Rehabilitation programs including medical, economic, social rehabilitation etc. finding a mention as the JLNURM and the GOM under Former Minister Jaitley he goes on in length to explain the 1996 Stand/Judgment alongside offences and charges under Sections 324, 326, 304A, 336, 337, 338 with or without S.35 of the I.P.C 1860 (Read alongside with or without mention of provisions under Cr.P.C 1973 for procedural justifications as an equal and adequate constituent of Fair Trials) and also about the Bail awarded through the Police Station. Beginning from 03.10.91 till 1993 when extradition was sought and resought on 05.05.2003 the U.S stand ofcourse perplexed though justified on grounds of Duality. Citing W.P 2802/04 wherein Dow Chemical Company, Union Carbide Corporation and Eveready were directed to deposit Rs.100 Crores which now at conservative and remedial estimates stood at Rs. 300 Crores, the adverse remedial action, the stand of the Ministry Of Agriculture on Gujarat Alkali & Chemicals, the remission of Rs. 320 Crores from the Government Of India to Government Of Madhya Pradesh and regarding site clean up the incinerator at Ankleshwar, Gujarat and Pitampura he concludes His ,His Ministry’s and The Government’s stand.The vociferous Shree Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, the R.J.D M.P from Vaishali, Bihar resoundingly declaring that Justice Delayed is Justice Denied with 25 years having passed by and with the respective stands of the various Law Ministries and the Supreme Court Judgements, there had been thus 7 (seven) mistakes which had occurred and had been committed on the respective counts. Citing equally the Nuclear Liability Bill there ought be compensation to all the victims and with the Curative Petition Filed after 25 years, Mr. Warren Anderson ought be Extradited to India and Jailed. Pitched against the British Petroleum pilferage, there ought be Site Clean-Up and Survivor Groups consulted.Sh. Prasanta Kumar Majumdar the R.S.P Member from West Bengal, he quotes the subject of Evacuation/Non-Action and the Nuclear Treaty. Shri Narahari Mahato of the A.I.F.B from Purulia, West Bengal evincing grave Environmental Concerns concludes on the imperative subject of Punishment. Sh. Tarun Mandal the Independent Member from Joynagar, West Bengal citing the service of notice on 26.06.2010 upon which the Parliamentary Debate had been confirmed He resonated the stature of Mr. Warren Anderson of an International Hero which he had attained for having Murdered. In his able stand on the debate and citing Gordon Streep, quoted unambiguously that the B.J.P, The C.P.I, the C.P.M and equally especially The Congress were responsible for the present state of affairs. The GOM was an eye wash to conceal the actual culprits, that a 60(sixty) member team of the NATO had visited Bhopal and his concluding suggestions lay on the foundings of proper Compensation at International Standards and Environmental cleanup, the BMHRC taken over by GOI with the related Health, Legal Issues etc. seeking adequate redressal. Sh. P.Chidambaram the gracious Home Minister articulating on the subject of the Debate commences with the citing of the issues having been discussed at the 8th,9th ,10th ,11th,12th and 13th Lok Sabha, there were 2(two) Judgments of 1989 and the single Judgment of 1991.An Opinion from the Ld. Attorney General having been sought about the Curative Petition,quoting on the sums of Rs. 1,148 Crores on a 1:1 Basis with Rs.1,509 Crores already disbursed, the average against the figure of 25,145 and doubled, the Government of the Day’s suggestion were : Rs.10 Lakhs for death,Rs.5 Lakhs for Permanent Injuries, Rs.2 Lakhs for Temporary Injuries and Rs.2 Lakhs also for Renal Failure.While it had never occurred to anyone that Decisions should be Revisited, the Charges he justified had been framed against all except Mr. Warren Anderson and the cases thus Bifurcated and the Supreme Court Judgment related only to Keshub Mahindra & the others while the Toxic Waste as per the estimates of NEERI & NREGI stand to be calculated at 1.1 Million Tons of Copper, 1 Million Tons of Mercury and 350 Million Tons of stored Hazardous Substances amongst others till date. The Other Honourable Members Of Parliament having voiced their opinion and the discussion held under Rule 193 as voiced by Smt. Vasundhara Raje Scindia and each Member if even assumed by us, the Counsels at the Curative Proceedings or at any such corners were holding onto their own opinion, resonating the views of their Political Parties and/or were under severe obligation to be protecting Culprits, Cohorts, Abettors and equally those who have only feigned ignorance and /or innocence, the underlying truth remains that the issues raised at whichsoever corner need to be addressed. If not in India, the World Community certainly would given particularly the stature Of The Obama Administration if not the United States Of America where there are cases already long pending and there have been fervent pleas on behalf of Activist and Survivor Group Organisations that the Union Of India on grounds of inadequacy of exertion of morality and ethical standards if not any of our blatant abuse on grounds of equality in the past join the ongoing proceedings in the various Courts in America. Though admittedly undermining the stature of the Union but on the repeated occasions where the Nation has itself carved an even inferior role for itself, the recources we ought not deny lie only in bringing about remedial and corrective measures at the various fronts where required. The transfer of proceedings from the New York District Court (South District) was specifically subject to the condition that Union Carbide Corporation and all entities/bodies/institutions and individuals under it would abide by and subject themselves to the jurisdictions of the Indian Courts. That alas was never to be the agenda of the Corporations given particularly the concessions of the various Governments in this Country we call India to Americans at large and America. In the recent years the explanation furnished when most in this Nation who occupied important positions of power and aided, facilitated the smothering of the Rights of People for interests which served none except themselves was that India in the 80s never possessed any bargaining power or the capacity to stand up to a nation as America. These are issues which should not be allowed to be buried and left undisclosed to the Nation and the World. India in the New World Order may we reiterate refuses to be corrupted, used, abused and its citizenry’s modesty outraged for a few Dollars more. Those who allowed all this and more to happen is quite apparent compromised in their own comforting positions of abuse, indifference and with horribly minimal respect for themselves. The Bhopalis have already pledged to take their never ending struggle to the Streets if required post the Criminal Curative Decision and we see no reason as to why they should not find favours amongst the citizenry and a generation which refuses to succumb to repeated abuse hurled in deceit and confers not Honour or Respect particularly given our understanding that the Proceedings at the present stage of adjudications being fervently attempted to be revisited for Pronouncements in their finality of nature only capable now of putting at rest all discord, acrimony and the endless sufferings of the People pinning all our hopes on the wisdom of the Apex Court. Deliver we shall and explanations against our reiterations in even as few as words should concretise the Indian stand.The run-up to the incident in 1984 and later till date surmised in brevity especially where The Honourable Court and all the Courts including the ones in America are well versed with the intricacies of the causations and our failures may we reiterate; post the Design Review Process on 25.12.81, there were 25 workers hospitalized on 09.01.82 during the Safety Week,100s of nearby residents affected on 05.10.82,the M.P State Assembly witnesses Motion to relocate Plant to a less populated area, the innumerable articles written by Journalists and especially Raj Kumar Keswani and in the midst of it all cost cutting measures estimated at 70$ a day passed vide Board Resolutions amongst so many others which even admitting that many a few like us may not be quite aware of and the causations stated are enough to pin liability towards and ofcourse bringing charges against Accused inspite of the blatant patronage at all quarters, the follow up of the processes to trials of absconders, anomalies, variances and prosecution agencies inspite of their respective stands as disclosed even in the recent years were left with little option but to go either soft or have their hands tied. Imperative to state that Union Carbide Corporation’s application on the proposal to convert the pesticide formulation unit in Bhopal into a production facility was turned down by D.C M.N. Buch on grounds of the chemical production facility as Hazardous with the recommendation of shifting it 20 Kms outside Bhopal, Union Carbide Corporation’s reduced stake in Union Carbide India Limited has infact been more of a decision compelled by Legislative Control particularly FERA ( foreign Exchange Regulation Act) 1973 than on its own accord. The institutional investment particularly and where the Courts directed the formulation of Group Insurance by the very institutional investors with the Government Of India to make good the loss for future manifestation on account of Gas Exposure, which even till 2008 had not seen the light of day, the very proposal seems inadequate in principle and morality equally with 1989 more so where the tussle for Compensation and its haggling began, 1989 in fact was a Record Financial Year for the Company. The incident occurring in 1984, the Bhopal Gas Claims Processing Legislation enacted in 1985,the Suit for compensation filed in the United States and reopened later in the U.S on grounds adequate sufficing Fairness Hearing post attempts towards consolidation and with the anticipation that purposes would be served which alas was not to be on the foundings of Criminal as well as Civil Law Jurisdictions the dismissal it is important to note was effected subtly on 02.05.88 By Judge Keenan on Grounds made out sufficing ‘Forum Non-Conveniens’ and conditional upon strict adherence and submission to the Jurisdiction of The Courts Of India and compliance to Due Process, the legislative prowess equally challenged on grounds of conflict of interest too, a brilliant mind’s early and unfortunate demise and rehearing resorted to since the judgment was reserved Suit 1113/86 for 3 Billion $ encompassing issues of Chemical Farming and justified equally therein the Letter Regotary for purposes of comparision of safety standards in the U.S at the U.C.C’s Plant site too, Criminal Proceedings directed to be considered withdrawn on grounds of settlement considering immediate relief and a settlement which was more than proved to have been arrived in proxy and reinstatement accordingly pronounced, there however have only been directives which have been implementing reduced values of compensation as well as punitive conferments and in the years post quarter of a century, prospective, retrospective and any such devised methods of application sans concurrence too vis a vis Criminal Law Jurisdiction seeming to award Justice to the victims may prove to be anything but the last nail in the coffin. At the Civil Law Jurisdiction front, tort law should not even faintly be considered to be proposed as the sole remedy and in such a manner as to merge obligations of accused under criminal law to find favours in adjustment against civil law correctives. The proceedings in the U.S have more than proved this we believe and to more than substantiate our fervent plea before The Honourable Court that punishments in their true nature notwithstanding and/or giving adequate effect to the belated action by the C.B.I vide its petition filed around 22nd/23rd march 2011 seeking production vide extradition of Warren Anderson before the Bhopal District Court, it is only the instant Honourable Court which is capable of facilitating it. The Class Action Suits and Complaints including Amended Class Action Suits/Complaints filed in the United States particularly under Federal Law and Rule 23 certifying Class Action, many of which may presently be hopefully beyond the stage of undergoing the discovery process under Trial in no uncertain terms had stated that Union Carbide is a fugitive from Justice and Warren Anderson was and is a fugitive from Justice for his deliberate evasion of the lawful jurisdiction of the Bhopal District Court where criminal charges remain pending against him besides seeking comprehensive clean up of the Plant Site in Bhopal, India. The Bano Vs. Union Carbide was reinstated twice by the 2nd Circuit Court Of Appeals, a Class Action against Dow Chemicals against its merger with Union Carbide was filed in 2000 against scrutiny and perusal of Dow’s S.E.C (Securities Exchange Filing) and the innumerable attempts towards institution, reinstitution and the seeking of imperative questions of law under international law. International tort law, toxic torts and equally those devised and formulated through concerted efforts of giving effect to the harmonization of laws, bringing about greater culpability amongst Corporations including Multi National Corporations and incidents as Exxon Valdez, British Petroleum hounding in its interim mode of having to subject to jurisdictions, the plethora of judgements admitting scientific evidence in toxic tort litigation we reason should not be beyond the comprehension of the Honourable Court in awarding Justice equally in the exertion of its inherent and innate conferment of powers towards satiating criminal law and civil law jurisdiction equally besides any further corrective attempts pleaded fervently at all corners to be addressed considering more so the continuation of the effects of gas exposure through the generations together resulting in the worst scenario of genetic mutation. It has resulted ultimately in the death of races and children born deformed to gas exposed parents and through indirect means we should realise would have to be conferred their Rights which may not quite be possible for them to exert themselves. They belong to none and even if the various Governments and Courts were to continue negating and denying to themselves their capacities and abilities of corrective, remedial and future prudence, there would still be no complaints from them. The period of life which Nature may ordinarily assign to mortals is bound to outlive them and equally the ones who would be born disabled on account of our indifference and inaction. Lest the Honourable Court finds it all too mundane, belated, hypothetical and unworthy of corrective interventions, Vietnam Association For Victims Of Agent Orange /Dioxin Versus Dow Chemical Company (Docket No. 05-1953-cv) should make us revisit them though the award of Judgment may be unworthy of reading or even believing half heartedly the demands at all quarters seeking the ban of Dursban/Endosulfan in India too given the decision of the Clinton Gore Administration through the Environmental Agency in 2000 to eliminate the pesticide post the discovery of its damaging effects on the brain or Brinda Karat the Honble member Of The Rajya Sabha’s questioning the very House: a.) Whether it was a fact that Dow the present owner of UCC had to withdraw its product Dursban from the U.S Markets primarily because of its effects on childrens’ health? b.) If so, under what circumstances Governments have allowed Dow Chemicals to set up production facility and distribution networks for Dursban in India? And c.) The names of the Government Departments and Public Sector Undertakings that are purchasing Dursban and other pesticides and chemicals from Dow Chemical Company? , the joint report of the ICFTU ( International Confederation Of Free Trade Unions ) & ICEF ( International Federation Of Chemical, Energy & general Workers Unions) on the effects of MIC in 1984 wherein Phosgene has been confirmed to have been used as a lethal gas in World War II and Chloroform was used as a solvent concerning the two 15ooo gallon tanks-610 & 611,tank 615 the Backup tank and equally the litigations which have necessarily had to be instituted and conducted notwithstanding favouring or against the respective parties in the innumerable cases filed, instituted, decided and even those pending before the District Court at Bhopal, Commissions, The High Court Of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur, The Supreme Court Of India, The New York(South District) Court and the various other Adjudicatory Forums, Tribunals and Courts Of law in India and The United States Of America. Anything other and further we are more than convinced the Honourable Court shall apply and given the conferment of powers shall leave no stone unturned for the entire period since the lodging of first information report at Hanumanganj Police Station, Bhopal till Curative Petition(Crl) No. 39-42/2010 decided by the Instant Honourable Court and Beyond in delivering Justice in all propriety and reasonabless sufficing demands which have arosen at all quarters and the Victims ,Survivor Groups, Activist Organisations and also agencies of the Government which ought to equally not be hesitant to seek any further before the August Bench till the conclusion of the proceedings in their nature of finality.
The Proceedings before the Honourable Court being held as an Open Court as an exclusion to the usual nomenclature of Honourable Judges Chambers concerning Curative Petitions before The Honourable Supreme Court Of India as per Rules, in all humility the purpose of the instant follow up to a write-up is not to undermine any Authority constituted under parliament, vide Law or by the Holy Seal Of The Office of the President Of India but to merely aid the cause in as discreet a manner as equally seeking non representation in any of its forms like the many illustrated later and merely apprising the Honourable Judges the importance of our seeking further urges as even individual constituents of a Democracy in our preferred manners understanding ofcourse that not a single visit to Bhopal have many of us made except academic and further accosting pursuits cum interests especially when proceedings are in their conclusiveness of nature and imperative understandings in present world consciousness with the onslaught of media emerging as the prospective fourth estate under the aegis of people power,abley demonstrated and witnessed post the Honourable Bhopal District Court’s Judgment in 2010,we wish to attain all except the legacies of a failed state. In the field of legal research no greater void-ness has been ever created than with the unwillingness of all parties to the Bhopal Judgments to either abide by the same or vide their blatant abuse and contempt which has unfortunately led to the absence of censures. Suffice to say that Bhopal has been left unaddressed till the emergence of a new world order to the extent of banishing corruption and where Parliament enjoyed the prerogative of legislating laws, the civil society has made a voice heard except that the same has been muffled by its own misconceptions of what true governance in the backdrop of democracy means. We have witnessed the usurpation of an entire process where a single name has been resonated in proxy to attain that which was never meant to be. The belongings of a third world have been the only realities which have stared grimly in the face of adversity. The multiplicity of jurisdictions has only saddled the issue with further burdens of adjudications in regimes which have been only reluctant, hostile and the successive litigations between pro se and pro bono before the Honorable Courts in The United States Of America have had little to say save their reliance on economic progressions vis a vis third worlds’ capacity to embrace advances in the field of science and technology .Trials in the field of uncharted non-proven technology the developing world as the underdeveloped world is an assured breeding ground for companies and acts, omissions, prejudices, covert welfare legislations and bias based on the stands of the successive regimes one could say in this Nation and the inadequacy of willingness in the various quarters. The Indian Judiciary under the stated circumstances and more including its very stand on the respective issues would have thus a much larger role to play and importantly evolve for themselves to deal with a crises raised vehemently at most forums vide Charan Lal Sahu et al vs. Union Of India et al , Sahu et al vs. Union Carbide Corporation et al etc under principles of natural justice and conflict of interest included therewith the doctrine of stifling and nemo potest, successive allowances by the Courts for the various cases to proceed at the initial stage bearing one lakh eighty six thousand victims classified as putative class have been not without hurdles and the dismay of having litigations pursued haplessly by the victims and their representatives in India where the position of law stands as varied and the need of the hour is evolving our laws to rise to the occasion, the need felt becomes all the more imperative where the Union Of India alias Government Of India alias The Central Bureau Of Investigation has realized the virtue of Filing a Curative Petition seeking the following as reported by dailies, newspapers and journals around 03.12.2010:
Revised Compensation of more than Rs. 5,500 crores for victims and consequent environmental degradation from Dow Chemical Company & Union Carbide Corporation.
Reports and similar findings around 28.02.2011 informed as follows:
Notices to UCC & Dow had been issued for increasing compensation from Rs 750 crores to Rs.7, 844 Crores. Notices were interalia reported to have been issued to the Companies too seeking a transfer of the Writ Petition Before The High Court Of Judicature At Madhya Pradesh.
The new claims were based on three footings:
1) There had been an incorrect assumption of the deaths, injuries and losses,
2) It included expenses incurred by the Madhya Pradesh High Court and the various Central Governments and finally for subsequent Environmental Degradation. It would be interesting however to note the intricacies of this arrangement explained further which is, as on February 1989 the compensation amount of Rs.675.96 crores which if had been invested on yearly basis as per London Central Bank offered rates, as on 22.08.10, it would have amounted to Rs.5,786.07 Crores taking into consideration the devaluation of the rupee, international rates, purchasing power parity and inflation index.
The actual amount of compensation would vary and that is the saving clause even if forcibly read into it by The Honourable Bench Of Five Judges or any such Constitutional Bench set up in response to the catastrophic denials of the accused individuals and the Corporations which had and have naturally sought the attraction of the piercing of veil principle. Their Lordships would have to see beyond that which is placed before the August Bench. The presence of Dow Chemical Company alongside Union Carbide Corporation is certainly the mother of all chemical unions and a brief historical account alongside all that has transpired in The U.S Of A and a scouting corrupt Bharat has many a questions to be answered. Not for the purpose of awarding justice to the victims alone but to the very theory of justice while recording without fear and favour the reasons accorded to this travesty of justice.
MIC,s processes have been the most intriguing and prominent enough the absence of any data on the certainty of remedies including antidotes considering that in the lackadaisical years of 1984 and the later 80s when the world bled at places including Chernobyl too, the horrows of mass murder were the sole remnants which ever stared back leaving behind a greater curse of waste which in the years of neglect, tardy processes, red tapeism and politically incorrect bed fellows with corruption writ large on all of it, has remained unaddressed till date.The sarcophagus has been the only remedy that all the atomic energy wizards have been able to figure out.Within it ought to lie enriched plutonium amongst other extremely high radio active substances in less extreme quantity considering the certainty of many a things as the eternal life span of radioactive material. The Nation has been most reluctant to understand this unfortunately. The cash for votes scam with currencies bearing the old Rs. which has been done away with/proposed to be so , we hope there is some affirmative recognition now presuming that Parliament has resolved to keep its privileges intact under the added privilege of separation of powers in the Indian democratic set up and the discretionary privileges particularly. The nuclear debate pitched against liability fails as framed within the constructed method in our nation. The virtues of technology should not be for the bane of mankind. Dow Chemical Company’s careless acts of dumping insecticides and pesticides as Dursban which have been banned for the similar usage in the United States are a hot favourite in India. Another nation’s foreign corrupt trade practices legislation confers the benefit to Indians thence.( As per Securities Exchange Commission records and Newspaper Reports, a senior official in the Central Insecticides Board had received about Rs. 16Lakhs for registering Dow’s Pesticides between 1996 and 2001 and other state officials had received the remaining amount summing up to about Rs. 38 Lakhs for facilitating the distribution and sale of Dow’s pesticides with Dow pursuant to which Dow Chemical Company in fact had been fined 3,25,000 $ by the S.E.C under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for having paid these bribes to the tune of 2,00,000$).
The write up sent in June 2008 was post a certain period which had conferred a certain privilege of spending time with the victims, the survivor groups and many more particularly for having harbored certain similarities and traits concerning UCIL and particularly ones that have had a similar resonance whence thoughts of radiation and technology. The endeavour to progress and achieve sound technological balance could only hold us in these situations at good stead. The evils of disobeyance and board resolution proposing the reduction in the Indian plant site has had many a theories and the memories of Bhopal gushed in only post 2010 to the entire country. The debate which has ensued has raised many a questions and demands from all ends have been raised in most forums. The write up of 2008 which follows was post the anguish of seeing many of the victims and survivor groups getting brutalized for having to come to seek their rights or the rights for others. The response from the Honourable Court being to either elect for electronic submission or traditional method of filing, there however was communicated that a matter on the subject written to the Court about was already pending before the Honourable Court. A reply to the extent however of knowledge being tabled before, our faith we continue to instill as we had whence in truth seeking the instillation of the faith in 2008 too except now anything more than a simple observation could be reason for much rejoice given our understanding that the Honourable Court has yet not abnegated any of its privileges towards a consummate adjudication to any extent. Ours too we had not whence writing as follows in utmost humility and acknowledging reply too in greater humility with the occurrence of the same not a requisite whence guided towards some greater public and sect too vis a vis benefits by Honourable Courts as Ours too subject to the limitations of building consensus amongst nations irrespective of their belongings to all that causes sores and injuries to the body and mind:
The statistics are an aberration to quantify liabilities in nations afflicted by hunger, poverty, unemployment and governmental sanctified proof of their existences substantiating if ever there be any claims for their mysterious disappearances. If at all they do, then these are figures juggled by the most skillful of defendants to excuse themselves of their very liability to cough up the coffers and in situations of corporate abuse laced with the violators of a legal persona and the story mired in political filth and the stench of lackadaisical administrative non performance, the concoction proves even more lethal than the most quizzical yet boring judgment pronounced by any court of law. Imperative questions raised are nevertheless profound but for the lack of institution of any rights in even the simplest of common parlance makes merely a mockery of the entire process. It spells more so the pronouncements of a failed state. Hopefully, we would not be in contempt given our trust in the judiciary, the administration and the legislature failing not we assume that collectively they comprise the Union of India. Bhopal has not remained an isolated case of corporate abuse anymore than of its greed of repeatedly throwing up greater figures to those already seeking ailment since the last two decades and more. Many have perished, more than that have permanent impairments and the rest are presumably groping with the idea of uncertainty between development and arrested development in the threshold of an idea which keeps one guessing the possibilities of getting repeatedly abused under the guise of compensation. Compensation that has been bargained as never before and sought to be returned too in like manner for having bridged the divide between commission and non commission of a crime. By the most skillful of lawyers, policy makers, organisations and Judges it has been hounded supposedly to the minutest of details and in any other developing or developed nation, it would have been catastrophic for the bourses. A crime of such a magnitude deserves not reasoning but action inspite of everything gone horribly wrong the night of 2 nd and 3rd December 1984 and of course beyond remains irreversible. The manifestations of the night sealed the fate of the victims and accounted for greater responsibility on the part of the State as the guardian of the rights of its effected populace in the grandeur definition of a social welfare state and hence its representation as parens patriae for the hapless souls in the United States District Court, S.District of New York seeking a claim of 3.3 billion dollars instantly after the incident. The objection by Union Carbide Corporation of forum non-conveniens was acceded to by Judge Keenan. Law Suit thrown out of the U.S Court, recourse lay only in filing a claim before the District Court at Bhopal by the Union Of India .The order for Rupees 350 crores as interim compensation was fiercely contested by Union Carbide India Limited to be reduced to Rupees 250 crores.Both parties interestingly enough went in appeals separately. Union Carbide Corporation’s stake in UCIL was 51% and not approximately 50 % as made to appear at several instances and further sold to McLeod Russell India Limited named Eveready Industries India later. Union Carbide’s presence in India had however been much before the Bhopal Plant selling whole lot of products and mostly batteries and a 100% subsidiary of Dow Chemicals, Transition Sub Inc. merging with UCC, Dow Chemicals as on date owns the Bhopal plant ; certainly Its liabilities in as good a capacity as it inherited the assets. While strangely enough the permission of the court allows such plethora of transactions and sabotage ,more precisely possible sabotage as made out by the defendants have however been never proved. Willful negligence paramount, liability in tort becomes a very precarious position in accounting liability. Broadly enough, there are indisputably civil and criminal liabilities. If theoretically, civil offences were to as great a substitute that their redressal could override penal action, all woes in cash rich and even cash strapped worlds would be over and a precondition that agreeing into agreements in the nature of settlements towards compensation would absolve them of contesting any proceedings that may be brought against the offender at later stages and more importantly that those subsisting whether civil or criminal would be quashed and not even kept at abeyance, the rule of law and principles of natural justice would succumb at the altar of such grotesque juridical developments. The situation worsens when the exact magnitude of the loss cannot be calculated to calculate liability towards even payment of compensation. Moribidity factor of course subsisting, the element of manifestation in future victims accounts to a mind boggling scenario seeking expensive medical interventions, speciality medical aid, rehabilitation on all possible fronts and most importantly, the continuity of aid more so in the scenario of newly appointed successors of the ghastly plant read UCIL. Their inheritance is not merely to the plant or even say tank 610 but the environmental aspect that supports life and complements humanitarian aid and most importantly their liabilities under international tort law with principles of precaution, precautionary principle and polluter pays principle laid down in very clear terms towards due adherence by the Honourable Supreme Court presently monitoring the various remedial aspects of the tragedy. The case against union carbide in its various forms is far from over and piercing the corporate veil would be the least of the urgencies notwithstanding the very revision by the court of the decision and modality of permitting the sale with the matter sub judice and in the absence of any sort of finality in the conclusiveness of proceedings. Phosgene gas in reaction with monomethylamine produced methyl isocyanate and methyl isocyanate made to react with alpha napthol produces the insecticide Sevin or MIC-Methyl Isocyanate which if it comes in contact with droplets of water or ounces of metal dust releases a fatal gas into the atmosphere. It was to be therefore kept under near zero temperature. Under influence of heat, it broke down into several molecules including hydrocyanide acid whose antidote sodium thiosulphate was never disclosed asmuch as its effect under situations of extreme temperature, more so heat. The plant was to be equipped with decontamination apparatus and flares to neutralize or burn it in case of accidental leakage while one of the primary safety regulations prohibited the storage of phosgene when not in production though ascertainment of phosgene and monomethylamine were the prerequisites of the preparation of MIC unlike the practice in its U.S plant. The technical knowledges patented in the U.S have been later sold to corporations including Reliance though Indian Oil revoked the contract at a later stage. The compensation amounts stated to have been meted out in the official site are as per figures reached during the settlement stage pronounced to be such. As on 1989/90, the figures furnished were 155203 towards no injury out of a total of 361966 medical folders prepared and 358712 of these evaluated. Temporary disability on account of permanent injury at 1313 ,Permanent total disability pegged at 40 and deaths to be at the exact figure of 3824 seems quite unacceptable and is far from the actual figures inspite of the court having made provisions for latent manifestation under the law of toxic tort. The amounts realized interestingly enough for the compensations claimed would have to be weighted against proceeds. An escrow account would have to be in its entirety till the pendency of litigation where liability importantly is being endeavored to be calculated and identified against the severest of civil and criminal offences involving culpable homicide. A conveyed position that in the midst of uncertainty where no charges have been filed by the trial court and extradition sought from the government of the American officials in charge of the companies affairs on that fateful night merely ridicules the position of the State in trying to emerge as the upholder of the basic fundamental rights of its citizenry. While the ministry of chemical and fertilizers in 2005 filed an application in the High Court of M.P to direct Dow Chemicals to pay an advance of rupees 100 crores as part of the polluter pays principle and the Prime Minister promises a delegation to be dishonoured later that action against Dow Chemicals would be intiated,Dow Chemicals seeking to be absolved of their legal liability and consenting towards clean up of the plant and its immediate surroundings; there is little that has been even endeavoured to be achieved. As per ICMR figures, there were 23000 dead and 7000 to 10000 killed within 72 hours of the toxic release and 40 tonnes of MIC and other gases released as per the corporation’s own figures. The Walk From Bhopal for the second time for the 50 odd protestors having been of little consequence to seek an audience with the Prime Minister some of them suffering from ailments themselves though of sufficient ability aided by the perseverance to fructify their endless struggle till date, the courts however for their part could rise to the occasion. The Indian mindset has been reared on the mindset of seeking judicial interventions and the very courts that have settled issues with their variance of agreements and disagreements, a larger constitutional bench certainly should not be in conflict or be disrespectful to the earlier judgments of the Honourable Apex Court. Admittedly it is seeking more than the Courts themselves would ever seek but empathy arising out of the present dire situation when all hope has been lost and little achieved so far, alleviation of suffering of a people who have not had much recourse from the very beginning, a judicial intervention in the modality of appropriate adjudication certainly should not be an impossible feat more so for the demands yet to be satiated and those born after those initial dreadful years.While the present write up finds its way to the Honourable Supreme Court for redressal and there has been a leakage of Chlorine gas at the Tata Motors plant at Jamshedpur and a Chlorine infection unlike its well acquainted term has little to its aid in the form of some antidote, innumerable people have been admitted to the hospitals. Strangely enough released the same day, a visit four days later, the air was still pungent and a vomit on the way back with a sore throat a remembrance for the day, theres an air of uncertainty of how corporate India even after two decades and more since the Bhopal tragedy and all these years since India’s independence reacts.Incidentally it was Ratan Tata himself who as head of the Indo-U.S Forum has publicly made it well known in the corridors of power that be that Dow Chemicals should be absolved of the civil and criminal liabilities. Those however in the United States Of America are more responsible and in the corporate history of the U.S no mishap or sabotage however one might quote it to be to suit ones interests, has been taken down lying. The offenders have been certainly taken to task and propaganda in whichever disguise for ones own subservient interest banned by a nation which has instilled its trust in God even it were to seem that for some, He were to only reside there.
THE PRESENT WRITE UP IS MOST HUMBLY SOUGHT TO BE TREATED AS PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION BY THE HONORABLE CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA AND HIS COMPANION JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA.
THE PROTESTORS AT JANTAR MANTAR SINCE THE LAST 100 DAYS AND MORE ARE MERELY AN INSIGHT INTO THE NIGHT THAT UNFOLDED IN 1984 AND THAT WHICH THEY HAVE ENDURED SINCE 1984.THEY ARE SEEKING AN AUDIENCE WITH THE PRIME MINISTER AND HAVE TABLED THEIR DEMANDS.THE ONLY RESPONSE THEY HAVE RECEIVED SO FAR IS DESPAIR AND DENIAL.THE GROUP OF MINISTERS ,A COMMISSION AND A LEGISLATION BESIDES THE BARE NECESSITIES OF WATER AND A SIMPLEST OF ALL LIVELYHOOD IS STILL A FAR CRY AWAY WHILE THE FINAL FIGURES WHICH EVERY NEW BIRTH OF A DEFORMED CHILD THROWS UP IS BECOMING COLLOSAL BY THE DAY.LEGAL ACTION AGAINST DOW AND UNION CARBIDE STRANGE AS IT MAY SOUND AFTER ALL THESE YEARS STILL REMAINS OUR FOREMOST DEMAND.
Post the afore-submission, mentioned briefly in the covering letter to The Hon'ble Chief Justice Of India, protestors and survivors including children and women were mercilessly beaten up by the police, the women strip searched, children as young as six years old have been bruised, physically assaulted and the ratio of twenty policemen to an individual in striking the blows occurring, they have been further sent to Tihar Jail on judicial custody. Bail provisions on grounds of morality have purposely not been availed of and living conditions of the protestors and survivors are as abysmal as they can ever get. A section of Congressmen and Parliamentarians in the U.S.A and U.K have however written to Dr. Manmohan Singh expressing their anguish at such developments in a nation which is aspiring to be amongst the developed world.
The need we have for the exemplary Judicial Order as displayed so often, to merge them as we have so often with stare decisis too when required and at such instances where we lack the abilities to measure up to any authority we should ever be understood to be merely informing the Court for the application of the wisdom of the Honourable Courts. Our laws lack implementation and the absence of willingness cripples the nation and the world too. The populace who had come out in support at the India Against Corruption with or without any particular figure or prejudgemental persona if were to simply take the pledge that they shall not pay a single rupee more than that permitted under Law, quite a many of the nation’s sorrows would be healed considering that the Pay Commission Recommendation nearly triples the salary of all government employees, the primary reason being to satisfy the simply unaffordable urge. Corruption levels in corporate establishments a bigger mode to launder and stash unaccounted wealth through the seemingly effective covert mode of awarding contracts and the vendors is a truth which the Nation someday would have to wake up to and for an iron hand to deal with all of this, it has to be through the transparent tri-partite set up which the nation at large ought to achieve. The law of torts for their able application towards any consummate adjudication could be and hence ought only be evolved and applied by the Honourable Court included therewith its jurisdiction wherein most demands made as on date by the survivor groups and activists should see the day of restoration of the criminal justice system and equally liability towards all claims arising on account not merely the 1984 incident but as to serve equally as a deterrent to those intending to participate in unholy alliances towards uneven gains, the burden of which the tax payer alone would have to carry till he is poorer and the corrupt neta with his cohorts in the entire system only richer. The machinery may we reiterate is almost perfect while it is only these spanners in the works and clogs in the wheel which derails all processes. The Honourable Court however for its benevolence, understanding and application of the sum of all its innate jurisdiction cum ability should equally understand the sacrifices made by the activists and people at large who have contributed to the cause of the victims and the families and successive generations of people who demised then and later over the years. These are ordinary people who have had to sacrifice many a things though admittedly the choice of path was theirs. In their quest for transparency, world order trickling down equally to the last man have had to rage and oppose the defects in implementation at all stages and in the entire process of lawful opposition, knowledge cum consensus build up, reinstatement privileges and securing freedom of life in dignity have had many a cases filed against them under the widest spectrum of most charges necessarily given the number of years that people have been compelled to part with against their preferred choices though most of them bearing the burden of the criminal justice system which in any nation if were to become tardy would be suicidal for the very nation and the fraternity. Societal standards on corruption could be varied in the instances and a unanimity that post the Bhopal District Court Judgment, the responses and disclosures have been quite confirming of the fact that truth alone ought to prevail; all wrongs that survivor groups and activists have been accusing all those who have wronged at various quarters stands to be the correct while they as a gesture to curatives in their finality of adjudications should be absolved of the crimes they have been and would seem in apparent clarity of thought charged under/with to stand trial. The reasonableness of application of any law that would not survive to the institution of any charges where mens rea as has been more than proved over the world for the accused persons and their corporations, they similarly cannot be applied on a sect who have had no interest but to unearth and opine on all that has gone wrong and particularly that which can be rectified in whichsoever form. The Courts however for their part would be the competent authority in such matters and particularly given our faith in them as they have so often restored while unabashedly we reiterate our insistence on the due process and a criminal justice system constructed with the sole intent of punishing offenders, habitual offenders, murderers, mass murderers, squanderers and equally the abettors. There can never be any ambiguity on these fronts and assumptions that we are seeking the dropping of any charges or going slow on the accused and even those who ought to be equally hounded with ferociousness for the benefit of the activists and survivors may be understood as unfounded and ought be nibbed in the bud. Such presumptions would be nothing more than figments of ones imaginations particularly where the insistences by the learned counsels for the defendants have been the adaptation of the procedure established by law during the curative proceedings. The demands are not to ones own benefit but to the cause particularly at instances where we as a Nation elect to be wiser given our obligation to apprise as the innate right without seeking representation equally understanding the Nation at large has discussed it and all demands which arise do so from these quarters too and the benefit of understanding that has ever been bestowed on Honourable Courts under the auspicious legacy and sanctity of the Judiciary stems from our belief and understanding of Democratic Institutions. These we believe exist only in harmony and humility equally. The Debate in Parliament was resounding even if ritualized as observed once too in the debate, the stand however of some observed has only abled the belief of corrective relief and remediations as expressed by many too. The Records of the Lok Sabha Proceedings should concretize our stand amidst the wide spectrum of agreeables and disagreeables vis a vis those in agreement or simply the ignorant lot who elect to be indifferent to causes and effects of incidences in this nation and the world. Under the able aegis of The Honorable Speaker Arjun Charan Sethi, Shri Bali Ram the BSP M.P from Uttar Pradesh quotes the faulty design of plant as related by CBI Counsel Sahay and in almost the same breath, the award of interim compensation to victims and the environment even in the absence of the actual calculation of the total figures towards damages and other figures which would ultimately be the liability of the polluter, tortfeasor and probably accused too (British Petroleum in this case as also for starters) if found to be fulfilling all the basic criterias that ordinarily qualify an accused for having committed any such crime in concert with any other accused bearing a similar vested interest irrespective of the magnitude of the crime ,the corporations and entities besides the conferments of the Courts that would be invoking their inherent jurisdictions equally so as those conferred upon them. Sh. Manganilal Mandal of the Janata Dal (United) from Jhanjharpur, Bihar spoke on the tenure of the Deve Gowda and I.K.Gujral Governments at the Centre period, the CBI’s stand on the 1995 Judgment, the victims being barred and the UOI ordinance; 1996-97 on the stand of the Courts on Section 304A of the I.P.C, the natural methodology of FIR, Accused and then on the curative petition perplexing equally the fact the U.S Government had declined deportation on the grounds of no evidence and no charge. Witnesses and evidence could never have got undermined more than thence and equally now too and his suggestions were towards extradition, greater compensation and also imposition of abetment charges against the Government and the concerned Ministries/Ministers. Sh. Pinaki Mishra B.J.D M.P from Puri, Odisha besides observing that the debates in Parliament since 1984 having become a ritualistic outpouring of sorrow, a judgment delivered after 25 years and the subject of toxicity alongside the premium which an U.S Passport carries vis a vis the greater protection granted to its citizenry anywhere in the world the interesting observation made post Honble Speaker Francisco Sardinha taking over the proceedings was that Tort Law in India has been weak while a Curative Petition as proposed would be nothing more than a laughing stock. We disagree and our disagreement stems from the belief that his able concluding suggestions and participative involvement in the democratic process which at the very outset facilitated the Debate in Parliament have been towards the quantum of punishment, the very question on the Rule of Law and finally Compensation; matters which no self righteous person would disagree need to be revisited. Shri Prabadu Panda, the C.P.I M.P from Medinipur, West Bengal correctly pointed out the defects with the final correct figure unascertained, the GOM recommendations (the activists sent to Tihar in 2008 were for having demanded the constitution of a GOM incidentally),that there had actually been a travesty of justice, questions raised were on the very role of the C.B.I sought to be investigated and acted upon by the GOM particularly over the dilution of charges and the safe passage which was given to Warren Anderson. His able mention of the Nuclear Liability Bill was however diluted by a GOM recommendation which suggested that the Public Exchequer was to be dug into for decontamination of the site. The Honourable Courts have been more seized of the matter and in the variance of their acknowledgements on the subject, the burden on the exchequers have been almost ruled out in the recent years and rightly so considering the magnanimity of the loss of lives, community belongings and the very principle of righteousness alongside Strict Liability. Sardar Sher Singh Gauba, the S.A.D M.P from Firozepur, Punjab with his mention of Operation Blue Star, a reiteration of the 1984 riots suggested topics concerning Compensation, Anderson being compelled to Stand Trial and Nuclear Mishaps against the very theory of Limited Compensation; the bell is rung. Comrade Basudev Acharia the C.P.I M.P from Bankura, West Bengal revisiting the CSIR Reports suggests determining culpability and equally questioning the safety rules etc.,critically seeks examination of the 1996 Supreme Court Judgment diluting Culpability alongside Charges from 304 to 304A,the safety audit committee’s findings and suggestions, the six month period prior to the 1984 mishap and the reasons accorded to inaction on the part of the company, communicated there was a lot of MIC stored and sought strongly the invocation of the Extradition Treaty for grounds more than sufficing Mass Slaughter. The disclosures made by Joint Director Of C.B.I post the 2010 Judgment according to the Learned Member were equally resonated to compliment his stand towards all that stood wronged to be settled for the measly 450 Million $ with victims compensated only excluding those were awaiting receiving Rupees 12,000 to 15,000/- only while the Government Of India’s reluctance towards Non-Contesting the Supreme Court Judgments notwithstanding the fact that the C.B.I was never allowed to visit the West Virginia plant of Union Carbide Corp there was room only for remediation at all fronts. The site clean-up remaining now the Liability of Dow Chemical Co./its Affiliates there was the imperative need for the GOM to recommend an Additional Compensation of Rs. 1,500/- Crores in the form of compensation (to commence remedial actions atleast considering the stand of the Government on the various issues).The medical treatment of the victims and survivors, the 5 square kilometer Environmental Clean-Up should be the responsibility of Dow with an adequate critical observation of the Civil, Criminal Liability and Letter Regotary and the recent issues emanating from the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill where Liability has been pegged to a fixed sum were the observations, discoveries and suggested remedial measures by Mr. Acharia.Shree Kailash Joshi, B.J.P M.P from Bhopal had the immaculate observation and helplessly resonated only that which have been pressed for want of inaction since the last 3 decades and more. The Master Plan exclusion, the pre-existence of slums ,the 1981 mishaps when there was demise of workers, the excruciating death of humans and animals on the streets alone and the gruesome sight of dead bodies piled in the period of 2 to 3 days equally in 1984.His able observations surmised the emergency too when the Learned Parliamentarian was jailed and commencing on the harshest reality of corrupt systems and their cursed conferments adequately stated that it was on 06.12.1984 that the C.B.I was given charge, the 8 accused were let to go on Bail with C.B.I never opposing any of the grants and motions while contrary to the usual procedure ( inspite of it as archaic as we know it to be alongside a system of precedents and not Judge made Laws and even subversions that Natural Law for the justification of all adaptations could offer as even solace) Mister Warren Anderson was awaiting a oh so fair trial not in any court room but in the Guest House of the company (which no person in the world going by the media revelation post the 2010 judgment could deny had almost doubled up as the Congress’s forte for meetings, gatherings and celebrations and the news clip depicting the since demised Arjun Singh the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister in a bandh gala to cover his torso and a Union Carbide helmet for his scalp only strengthens the demands for a present non-corrupt India and particularly generation) while Bail obtained with equal ease was out of court. {On a newstrack byte, He (Mr. Warren Anderson) had quoted in no uncertain terms, “Bail or No-bail, Goodbye India”}. A volley of accusations doing their rounds concerning the former Chief Minister too and the able defense to the impromptu opposition by the Ruling class struck off the record as directed by Honble Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Debate for once seemed to be anything but politically motivated with factual emphasis tabled on the floor of the House to which Shri Joshi is forced to conclude partially amidst ruckus caused by the Ruling party members.Sajjan Singh Dewas, the INC member of Parliament from Dewas, Madhya Pradesh resounds early in defense of it being Sh. Arun Jaitley who as Law Minister had absolved Warren Anderson prior to Sh. Joshi being permitted to conclude in no unclear terms that Warren Anderson should be produced and tried in Bhopal, India; the dilution of charges from 304 to 304A be restored, the committee constituted under J.Ahmedi be diluted(Ahmedi J had incidentally resigned post the judgment with accusations flying of his conduct vis a vis breach and over-exertion of privileges).The final figures having been never ascertained conclusively and briefly broaching on the figures of Rs. 10,5 & 2 Lakhs respectively ,Shri Kailash Joshi gravely questions the role of the CBI and demands rhetorically that a Joint Parliamentary Committee be constituted to enquire cum probe the role of the CBI.Shri Kalyan Banerjee the Trinamool (A.I.T.C) Member of Parliament from Srerampur,West Bengal citing the 2001 episode drops precariously in the spirit of the Debate the names of Mr.Soli Sorabjee and Shree Arun Jaitley while reminding the other members of 1996 questions the non-action by the other parties in 1996 and in conclusion ably praises Dr. Manmohan Singh for having constituted the GOM.It would be needless however to reiterate that the demands for the constitution of a GOM and an audience with the same Prime Minister had landed the victims and activists at Tihar Jail. Their primary demands including legislative prowess amongst others were:
1.) Setting up a Special Commission on Bhopal to address the following issues facing the People (And their Children) by Union carbide’s poisons for the next 30 Years-
a.) Medical care research and monitoring,
b.) Social and Economic Rehabilitation,
c.) Environmental Remediation.
d.) Safe Drinking Water;
2.) Taking Legal Action Against Union Carbide & Dow Chemical –
a.) Pursuing the Ministry of Chemicals’ application in M.P High Court seeking money for toxic cleanup in Bhopal from Dow Chemical,
b.) Moving for extradition of Warren Anderson and the authorized representative of Union carbide Corporation,
c.) Revoking approval given to Reliance Industries for purchase of Union carbide’s Unipol Technology which is Intellectual Property that should be confiscated because the Corporation is absconding since 1992 &
d.) Cancelling Registration for all three pesticides, including Dursban that were obtained by bribing Agriculture Ministry Officials as established by Securities & Exchange Commission, U.S.A.
S. Semmalai the AIADMK member from Salem reminds the House of his opposition to the Plant before and recommends the requisite site clean-up and Nama Nageshwar Rao of the T.D.P speaking on the logical subjects of FIR & Chargesheet following and a Non-Bailable Warrant still pending against the Proclaimed Absconder, he cites the 3.3 Billion$ Law Suit brought immediately after the incident to the present 20 Billion$ Interim Compensation announced against British Petroleum with only 13 deaths occurring. Smt Yashodhara Raje Scindia, the Gwalior M.P from Madhya Pradesh resonates equally as the many times it has been that it is yet the largest man made tragedy which could have been avoided and quotes equally the British Petroleum compensation by the Obama Administration. Her suggestion she concludes on the subject of compensation. Yet another man of the moment on whose Ministries shoulders’ part of the maximum onus lay, Shri Srikant Jena (The Minister Of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers) citing Shri Pinaki Mishra calls for the urgency of newer Laws while finding favours in the Claims Commission constitution and the Welfare Commission he places reliance on the Revised Compensation by the GOM. Rehabilitation programs including medical, economic, social rehabilitation etc. finding a mention as the JLNURM and the GOM under Former Minister Jaitley he goes on in length to explain the 1996 Stand/Judgment alongside offences and charges under Sections 324, 326, 304A, 336, 337, 338 with or without S.35 of the I.P.C 1860 (Read alongside with or without mention of provisions under Cr.P.C 1973 for procedural justifications as an equal and adequate constituent of Fair Trials) and also about the Bail awarded through the Police Station. Beginning from 03.10.91 till 1993 when extradition was sought and resought on 05.05.2003 the U.S stand ofcourse perplexed though justified on grounds of Duality. Citing W.P 2802/04 wherein Dow Chemical Company, Union Carbide Corporation and Eveready were directed to deposit Rs.100 Crores which now at conservative and remedial estimates stood at Rs. 300 Crores, the adverse remedial action, the stand of the Ministry Of Agriculture on Gujarat Alkali & Chemicals, the remission of Rs. 320 Crores from the Government Of India to Government Of Madhya Pradesh and regarding site clean up the incinerator at Ankleshwar, Gujarat and Pitampura he concludes His ,His Ministry’s and The Government’s stand.The vociferous Shree Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, the R.J.D M.P from Vaishali, Bihar resoundingly declaring that Justice Delayed is Justice Denied with 25 years having passed by and with the respective stands of the various Law Ministries and the Supreme Court Judgements, there had been thus 7 (seven) mistakes which had occurred and had been committed on the respective counts. Citing equally the Nuclear Liability Bill there ought be compensation to all the victims and with the Curative Petition Filed after 25 years, Mr. Warren Anderson ought be Extradited to India and Jailed. Pitched against the British Petroleum pilferage, there ought be Site Clean-Up and Survivor Groups consulted.Sh. Prasanta Kumar Majumdar the R.S.P Member from West Bengal, he quotes the subject of Evacuation/Non-Action and the Nuclear Treaty. Shri Narahari Mahato of the A.I.F.B from Purulia, West Bengal evincing grave Environmental Concerns concludes on the imperative subject of Punishment. Sh. Tarun Mandal the Independent Member from Joynagar, West Bengal citing the service of notice on 26.06.2010 upon which the Parliamentary Debate had been confirmed He resonated the stature of Mr. Warren Anderson of an International Hero which he had attained for having Murdered. In his able stand on the debate and citing Gordon Streep, quoted unambiguously that the B.J.P, The C.P.I, the C.P.M and equally especially The Congress were responsible for the present state of affairs. The GOM was an eye wash to conceal the actual culprits, that a 60(sixty) member team of the NATO had visited Bhopal and his concluding suggestions lay on the foundings of proper Compensation at International Standards and Environmental cleanup, the BMHRC taken over by GOI with the related Health, Legal Issues etc. seeking adequate redressal. Sh. P.Chidambaram the gracious Home Minister articulating on the subject of the Debate commences with the citing of the issues having been discussed at the 8th,9th ,10th ,11th,12th and 13th Lok Sabha, there were 2(two) Judgments of 1989 and the single Judgment of 1991.An Opinion from the Ld. Attorney General having been sought about the Curative Petition,quoting on the sums of Rs. 1,148 Crores on a 1:1 Basis with Rs.1,509 Crores already disbursed, the average against the figure of 25,145 and doubled, the Government of the Day’s suggestion were : Rs.10 Lakhs for death,Rs.5 Lakhs for Permanent Injuries, Rs.2 Lakhs for Temporary Injuries and Rs.2 Lakhs also for Renal Failure.While it had never occurred to anyone that Decisions should be Revisited, the Charges he justified had been framed against all except Mr. Warren Anderson and the cases thus Bifurcated and the Supreme Court Judgment related only to Keshub Mahindra & the others while the Toxic Waste as per the estimates of NEERI & NREGI stand to be calculated at 1.1 Million Tons of Copper, 1 Million Tons of Mercury and 350 Million Tons of stored Hazardous Substances amongst others till date. The Other Honourable Members Of Parliament having voiced their opinion and the discussion held under Rule 193 as voiced by Smt. Vasundhara Raje Scindia and each Member if even assumed by us, the Counsels at the Curative Proceedings or at any such corners were holding onto their own opinion, resonating the views of their Political Parties and/or were under severe obligation to be protecting Culprits, Cohorts, Abettors and equally those who have only feigned ignorance and /or innocence, the underlying truth remains that the issues raised at whichsoever corner need to be addressed. If not in India, the World Community certainly would given particularly the stature Of The Obama Administration if not the United States Of America where there are cases already long pending and there have been fervent pleas on behalf of Activist and Survivor Group Organisations that the Union Of India on grounds of inadequacy of exertion of morality and ethical standards if not any of our blatant abuse on grounds of equality in the past join the ongoing proceedings in the various Courts in America. Though admittedly undermining the stature of the Union but on the repeated occasions where the Nation has itself carved an even inferior role for itself, the recources we ought not deny lie only in bringing about remedial and corrective measures at the various fronts where required. The transfer of proceedings from the New York District Court (South District) was specifically subject to the condition that Union Carbide Corporation and all entities/bodies/institutions and individuals under it would abide by and subject themselves to the jurisdictions of the Indian Courts. That alas was never to be the agenda of the Corporations given particularly the concessions of the various Governments in this Country we call India to Americans at large and America. In the recent years the explanation furnished when most in this Nation who occupied important positions of power and aided, facilitated the smothering of the Rights of People for interests which served none except themselves was that India in the 80s never possessed any bargaining power or the capacity to stand up to a nation as America. These are issues which should not be allowed to be buried and left undisclosed to the Nation and the World. India in the New World Order may we reiterate refuses to be corrupted, used, abused and its citizenry’s modesty outraged for a few Dollars more. Those who allowed all this and more to happen is quite apparent compromised in their own comforting positions of abuse, indifference and with horribly minimal respect for themselves. The Bhopalis have already pledged to take their never ending struggle to the Streets if required post the Criminal Curative Decision and we see no reason as to why they should not find favours amongst the citizenry and a generation which refuses to succumb to repeated abuse hurled in deceit and confers not Honour or Respect particularly given our understanding that the Proceedings at the present stage of adjudications being fervently attempted to be revisited for Pronouncements in their finality of nature only capable now of putting at rest all discord, acrimony and the endless sufferings of the People pinning all our hopes on the wisdom of the Apex Court. Deliver we shall and explanations against our reiterations in even as few as words should concretise the Indian stand.The run-up to the incident in 1984 and later till date surmised in brevity especially where The Honourable Court and all the Courts including the ones in America are well versed with the intricacies of the causations and our failures may we reiterate; post the Design Review Process on 25.12.81, there were 25 workers hospitalized on 09.01.82 during the Safety Week,100s of nearby residents affected on 05.10.82,the M.P State Assembly witnesses Motion to relocate Plant to a less populated area, the innumerable articles written by Journalists and especially Raj Kumar Keswani and in the midst of it all cost cutting measures estimated at 70$ a day passed vide Board Resolutions amongst so many others which even admitting that many a few like us may not be quite aware of and the causations stated are enough to pin liability towards and ofcourse bringing charges against Accused inspite of the blatant patronage at all quarters, the follow up of the processes to trials of absconders, anomalies, variances and prosecution agencies inspite of their respective stands as disclosed even in the recent years were left with little option but to go either soft or have their hands tied. Imperative to state that Union Carbide Corporation’s application on the proposal to convert the pesticide formulation unit in Bhopal into a production facility was turned down by D.C M.N. Buch on grounds of the chemical production facility as Hazardous with the recommendation of shifting it 20 Kms outside Bhopal, Union Carbide Corporation’s reduced stake in Union Carbide India Limited has infact been more of a decision compelled by Legislative Control particularly FERA ( foreign Exchange Regulation Act) 1973 than on its own accord. The institutional investment particularly and where the Courts directed the formulation of Group Insurance by the very institutional investors with the Government Of India to make good the loss for future manifestation on account of Gas Exposure, which even till 2008 had not seen the light of day, the very proposal seems inadequate in principle and morality equally with 1989 more so where the tussle for Compensation and its haggling began, 1989 in fact was a Record Financial Year for the Company. The incident occurring in 1984, the Bhopal Gas Claims Processing Legislation enacted in 1985,the Suit for compensation filed in the United States and reopened later in the U.S on grounds adequate sufficing Fairness Hearing post attempts towards consolidation and with the anticipation that purposes would be served which alas was not to be on the foundings of Criminal as well as Civil Law Jurisdictions the dismissal it is important to note was effected subtly on 02.05.88 By Judge Keenan on Grounds made out sufficing ‘Forum Non-Conveniens’ and conditional upon strict adherence and submission to the Jurisdiction of The Courts Of India and compliance to Due Process, the legislative prowess equally challenged on grounds of conflict of interest too, a brilliant mind’s early and unfortunate demise and rehearing resorted to since the judgment was reserved Suit 1113/86 for 3 Billion $ encompassing issues of Chemical Farming and justified equally therein the Letter Regotary for purposes of comparision of safety standards in the U.S at the U.C.C’s Plant site too, Criminal Proceedings directed to be considered withdrawn on grounds of settlement considering immediate relief and a settlement which was more than proved to have been arrived in proxy and reinstatement accordingly pronounced, there however have only been directives which have been implementing reduced values of compensation as well as punitive conferments and in the years post quarter of a century, prospective, retrospective and any such devised methods of application sans concurrence too vis a vis Criminal Law Jurisdiction seeming to award Justice to the victims may prove to be anything but the last nail in the coffin. At the Civil Law Jurisdiction front, tort law should not even faintly be considered to be proposed as the sole remedy and in such a manner as to merge obligations of accused under criminal law to find favours in adjustment against civil law correctives. The proceedings in the U.S have more than proved this we believe and to more than substantiate our fervent plea before The Honourable Court that punishments in their true nature notwithstanding and/or giving adequate effect to the belated action by the C.B.I vide its petition filed around 22nd/23rd march 2011 seeking production vide extradition of Warren Anderson before the Bhopal District Court, it is only the instant Honourable Court which is capable of facilitating it. The Class Action Suits and Complaints including Amended Class Action Suits/Complaints filed in the United States particularly under Federal Law and Rule 23 certifying Class Action, many of which may presently be hopefully beyond the stage of undergoing the discovery process under Trial in no uncertain terms had stated that Union Carbide is a fugitive from Justice and Warren Anderson was and is a fugitive from Justice for his deliberate evasion of the lawful jurisdiction of the Bhopal District Court where criminal charges remain pending against him besides seeking comprehensive clean up of the Plant Site in Bhopal, India. The Bano Vs. Union Carbide was reinstated twice by the 2nd Circuit Court Of Appeals, a Class Action against Dow Chemicals against its merger with Union Carbide was filed in 2000 against scrutiny and perusal of Dow’s S.E.C (Securities Exchange Filing) and the innumerable attempts towards institution, reinstitution and the seeking of imperative questions of law under international law. International tort law, toxic torts and equally those devised and formulated through concerted efforts of giving effect to the harmonization of laws, bringing about greater culpability amongst Corporations including Multi National Corporations and incidents as Exxon Valdez, British Petroleum hounding in its interim mode of having to subject to jurisdictions, the plethora of judgements admitting scientific evidence in toxic tort litigation we reason should not be beyond the comprehension of the Honourable Court in awarding Justice equally in the exertion of its inherent and innate conferment of powers towards satiating criminal law and civil law jurisdiction equally besides any further corrective attempts pleaded fervently at all corners to be addressed considering more so the continuation of the effects of gas exposure through the generations together resulting in the worst scenario of genetic mutation. It has resulted ultimately in the death of races and children born deformed to gas exposed parents and through indirect means we should realise would have to be conferred their Rights which may not quite be possible for them to exert themselves. They belong to none and even if the various Governments and Courts were to continue negating and denying to themselves their capacities and abilities of corrective, remedial and future prudence, there would still be no complaints from them. The period of life which Nature may ordinarily assign to mortals is bound to outlive them and equally the ones who would be born disabled on account of our indifference and inaction. Lest the Honourable Court finds it all too mundane, belated, hypothetical and unworthy of corrective interventions, Vietnam Association For Victims Of Agent Orange /Dioxin Versus Dow Chemical Company (Docket No. 05-1953-cv) should make us revisit them though the award of Judgment may be unworthy of reading or even believing half heartedly the demands at all quarters seeking the ban of Dursban/Endosulfan in India too given the decision of the Clinton Gore Administration through the Environmental Agency in 2000 to eliminate the pesticide post the discovery of its damaging effects on the brain or Brinda Karat the Honble member Of The Rajya Sabha’s questioning the very House: a.) Whether it was a fact that Dow the present owner of UCC had to withdraw its product Dursban from the U.S Markets primarily because of its effects on childrens’ health? b.) If so, under what circumstances Governments have allowed Dow Chemicals to set up production facility and distribution networks for Dursban in India? And c.) The names of the Government Departments and Public Sector Undertakings that are purchasing Dursban and other pesticides and chemicals from Dow Chemical Company? , the joint report of the ICFTU ( International Confederation Of Free Trade Unions ) & ICEF ( International Federation Of Chemical, Energy & general Workers Unions) on the effects of MIC in 1984 wherein Phosgene has been confirmed to have been used as a lethal gas in World War II and Chloroform was used as a solvent concerning the two 15ooo gallon tanks-610 & 611,tank 615 the Backup tank and equally the litigations which have necessarily had to be instituted and conducted notwithstanding favouring or against the respective parties in the innumerable cases filed, instituted, decided and even those pending before the District Court at Bhopal, Commissions, The High Court Of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur, The Supreme Court Of India, The New York(South District) Court and the various other Adjudicatory Forums, Tribunals and Courts Of law in India and The United States Of America. Anything other and further we are more than convinced the Honourable Court shall apply and given the conferment of powers shall leave no stone unturned for the entire period since the lodging of first information report at Hanumanganj Police Station, Bhopal till Curative Petition(Crl) No. 39-42/2010 decided by the Instant Honourable Court and Beyond in delivering Justice in all propriety and reasonabless sufficing demands which have arosen at all quarters and the Victims ,Survivor Groups, Activist Organisations and also agencies of the Government which ought to equally not be hesitant to seek any further before the August Bench till the conclusion of the proceedings in their nature of finality.
