Dow liability: Govt says it doesn’t have record of firm’s deal with UCC

Ministry officials only reiterated that they had taken the stand in the Madhya Pradesh High Court that Dow had to take responsibility for cleaning of the site and had sought a deposit of Rs 100 crore as an interim corpus,which had been opposed by Dow. “There was consensus though that the case should be pursued vigorously,” a member of the GoM said.

In his opinion in November 2007,then Union law secretary T K Vishwanathan had also said that while Dow could not be held liable for the mishap,it could not wriggle out of the responsibility of cleaning the site. The opinion was taken after Dow sought immunity from any liability for its assets in India with regard to claims against UCC on the Bhopal accident. It also sought free movement of its officials without the fear of arrest.

Following these requests,the PMO had asked the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilisers to prepare a Cabinet note on the status of Dow’s liability. However,it did not bring the note before the Cabinet,the reasons for which are not clear.

Another interesting revelation was made by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao,who told the GoM that there were no records relating to the sequence of events leading to Anderson’s exit from the country. Asked about former foreign secretary M K Rasgotra’s contention that Anderson had been assured of a “safe passage” before coming to India at the highest of levels,Rao said there was nothing in the records to either corroborate or contradict what he had said.

She also read out a note explaining the facts and background of the case relating to Anderson’s extradition,in which she said that three requests had been made earlier in this regard. Letter rogatories too had been sent to US courts on the matter as per the Indo-US extradition treaty.

The GoM concluded that a fresh request for the former UCC chief’s extradition could be sent to the US. It agreed with the Law Ministry’s contention that fresh evidence surfacing in the recent court judgment indicated that Anderson was aware that the Bhopal plant had low maintenance. This was corroborated by witnesses as well as by correspondence between the Bhopal plant and the UCC corporate office.

Sources also said that the GoM was unanimous that the Central Government should file a curative petition in the Supreme Court through the CBI to get Section 304 (culpable homicide) reinstated in the chargesheet. In 1996,a Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice A M Ahmadi had diluted the charges against the accused to criminal negligence,which carries a maximum sentence of two years.

Some members raised the issue of the February 1989 judgment of the Supreme Court,which had settled the issue of financial compensation to the tune of US $470 million. One minister wanted to know how had the government agreed to this sum and who had fixed it. There was a suggestion that a curative petition could be filed with regard to the 1989 judgment as well.

The Union Health Ministry along with senior officials of the Indian Council of Medical Research apprised the GoM about the health-related problems suffered by the people affected by the gas tragedy. Officials said that while infections in the upper respiratory tract and cases of lung cancer increased after the incident,there wasn’t a progressive rise as the years passed. It has also been found that mental stress and cases of bronchitis still persist.

Tomorrow the GoM will discuss issues relating to environmental remediation and the disposal of toxic waste at the site.