BHOPAL, 4 December 2005 — The American district court of John F. Keenan has dismissed the plaint filed by NGOs, asserting claims for personal injuries, environmental damage, property damage and human rights violations of Bhopal gas victims against the Union Carbide Corporation. It is a major setback to advocates of the Bhopal cause on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the gas disaster.
The judge also dismissed their plea seeking directives to the Union Carbide to carry out remediation of the Bhopal plant. The court ruled that “a district court sitting in New York cannot be expected to control cleanup effort 8,000 miles away”.
On Nov. 15, 1999, plaintiffs Haseena Bi and several NGOs associated with the Bhopal tragedy had filed a class action complaint against Union Carbide Corporation and its former Chairman Warren Anderson. They sought claims against personal injuries, environmental damage and property damage arising out of the 1984 gas disaster.
In 2000, the court dismissed all the claims. But, the second circuit court of appeals in part remanded back the case, particularly claims on account of environmental damage. This raised hope among the NGOs that compensation against water contamination in 25 localities around the Union Carbide plant due to seepage of toxic waste from the plant could be extracted from the company. They also hoped the cost of cleaning up of the plant where approximately 800 metric ton of toxic waste still existed would be received from either Union Carbide or its new owner Dow Chemicals.
The court pointed out that neither the federal government of India nor the Madhya Pradesh government sought intervention of an American court in the matter through issuance of a no objection certificate (NOC) to the cleaning up effort.
It further said receipt of an NOC from the federal government of India does not automatically revive the claim. The court added it was also important to note that the NOC does not solve any of the logistic problems involved in the cleaning up effort.
Meanwhile, to organize a protest at the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to be held in Hong Kong from Dec. 13 to 18, the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udhyog Sangathan (BGPMUS) along with Madhya Pradesh unit of the Anti-Globalization Movement and other organizations took part in a public meeting at Yadgar-e-Shahjehani Park and a torch rally on Friday.
