Thread by @barandbench

#SupremeCourt to continue hearing curative petition filed by the Union
government regarding compensation for families of victims affected by the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy.

#SupremeCourtofIndia #BhopalGasTragedy #law #compensation

Matter to be heard by a Constitution Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul.

Read our story on yesterday's hearing: shorturl.at/cHX14

Hearing starts.

AG R Venkataramani: Tried to go back to the events. Might be a little emotive today. Yesterday I may have been unable to persuade the court to re-examine.

SC: Nobody doubts the enormity of the tragedy. There are some assessments about liability

SC: There have been more severe cases with less (compensation).. It is easy to be emotive. But we do not have the privilege to play to the gallery. Whole issue is under what jurisdiction are we hearing. To what extent is ..We asked you yesterday. Every dispute has to have closure

SC: A review also came by some parties. Now can we keep opening some routes which are periodically is the question.

AG: The question is very ...

SC: Not that we are ... To what has happened. Many other issues arise.

SC reiterates question of it can review compensation arising out of a settlement during a curative Petition hearing.

AG: Access to justice is key. SC had assumed role of parents patriae.

AG: That 2000 crores at the time was a pittance. In 1992 Court was very agonised. That is why I urge this Court that some of the legal impediments be travelled through by some of the judgments i am about to place.

Justice Oka: Can we expand scope and take it somewhere else?

AG: Lordships are sitting in a constitution bench.

SC: It is like quicksand. You keep expanding everything. On the lighter side, normally govt is very hesitant to expand a case's scope.

AG: Certainly.

SC: We are also constrained.

#SupremeCourt #BhopalGasTragedy

AG: Need to come out of the impediments given the case.

#SupremeCourtofIndia #SupremeCourt #BhopalGasTragedy

AG: There is a literature on evolving role of Constitutional courts in such kind of difficult cases. We are looking at a situation which was not fully understood in 1992.

AG reads from original plaint.

Justice Kaul: Nothing stops the govt from taking a more proactive role and add to the compensation.

#SupremeCourt #BhopalGasTragedy #SupremeCourtofIndia

Bench asks about status of payments.

SC: It was fortuitous that exchange rate had since become in your favour, so the corpus will be larger. We have all sympathies for those who have suffered but ultimately you have to fit in Jurisdiction of curative. We began by saying maryada

SC: of Jurisdiction.

Justice Kaul: Court cannot be a knight in shining armour for everybody. We are constrained by law. There is no point in us repeating it. Come to grounds of curative.

SC: Tomorrow you might say that the air travelled much more beyond Bhopal, we would like to give benefit to a peripheral areas. The plaint is widely worded. As welfare state adopt different principle, are you liable or not. Is it that I dont want to pay, but I think, can get it

SC: from (Union Carbide)?

#SupremeCourt #BhopalGasTragedy #SupremeCourtofIndia

Justice Kaul: Some crystal gazing might have been done by the Court at that point of time.

AG: UCC wanted to avoid a trial.

SC: They may have their own business decisions to settle. You agreed. Cannot get into sub stratums of a trial.

AG: Settlements take place on a poor scale because of commerical gains. But the doctrine of restitution allows ...

SC: Sections ...

SC: it was not fair to them. Now you cannot say they did not know what they were doing.

#SupremeCourt #BhopalGasTragedy #SupremeCourt

After AG starts reading from review judgment, Bench says: "Attorney, a curative is not review of review. Cannot be so.

AG: The judgment keeps room open ...

SC: It proceeds on premise that we have not yet established liability

AG: Settlement based on liability principle

SC: There was no trial or determination. You cannot now fasten additional liability after a settlement was willing arrived at by parties.

AG: I think there is need to go beyond ...

#SupremeCourt
#BhopalGasTragedy

Salve reads the conditions relating to transfer of money by Union Carbide to the RBI for disbursal as compensation.

Salve: Nothing was to be diverted for administrative expenses.

AG recalls how Sr Adv and eminent jurist Fali S Nariman said that accepting the Union Carbide brief was the biggest mistake in his life.

Justice Kaul: Our job would have been very simple in the first day, first five days. But we heard your at greater length given the issue. But can we just brush it to the very Jurisdiction of curative and in what circumstances it would. Needs to be specified.

Bench discusses

Justice Kaul: Honestly, we deal with 100s of curative petitions here. There are specifialised counsel who sign such cases. See, all of us have to follow. Invoking this Jurisdiction needs ABC to be done, has it been? We did not oppose at threshold, okay, as Attorney we indulged...

Justice Kaul: But we have kept in open court. Tell us after lunch about the insurance being invoked and certificate of..

AG: I will address

SC: Else there is a threshold bar, but we have still heard you. I do not think there was any curative where hearing went on for day & half

Matter to continue at 2:15

Hearing resumes.

AG reads from pleadings about insurance involved.

AG argues that those not parties to the lis not precluded from taking part in proceedings in such cases.

AG: Question is what is the public importance

AG: If the curative petition proceeds to present questions sharing lapses in compensation ...

Justice Maheswari discussing a judgement with Justice Oka.

Justice Khanna: Can a change in the settlement be done unilaterally? We cannot say that you will have a free ride.

Justice Kaul: Nothing arose (during trial). Both sides took a decision. We cannot foreclose that.

Justice Khanna: It is not a decree, it is a compromise.

AG: Question of additional Liability will come from what the statutory Authorities, welfare commissioner have found.

#SupremeCourtofIndia #BhopalGasTragedy #SupremeCourt

SC: With utmost liberality, you have to finish today AG. We have to hear others. Tomorrow we will wind up the case, have to hear Salve too.

@karunanundy : Grateful.

AG reads from judgments.

#SupremeCourt #BhopalGasTragedy #SupremeCourtofIndia

Justice Kaul: There is certainly no doubt as to what your are canvassing. But the moment you get into technicalities your are in diffculty. All that was considered by the Court at the time.

AG: This is a case with rough edges

#SupremeCourtofIndia #BhopalGasTragedy #SupremeCourt

AG: Like a diamond also has sometimes. So if I have to handle a diamond ...

Justice Kaul: it should be done in a way that the diamond does not disappear.

#SupremeCourt

Justice Oka: After review judgment, there were fresh claims?

AG: Yes.

#SupremeCourt

Salve: Is the 675 paid or to be, as Justice Oka asked. Their case is not that but, it is to compare the actuals of 1984 with the assumptions, and revise the figures.

#SupremeCourt #BhopalGasTragedy #SupremeCourtofIndia

Salve: Look at the AG's note ...

AG: Since lordships wanted me to finish ...

Justice Kaul: Yes i wanted you to.

Justice Nath: That is your threat (smiles).

SC: It is very easy to dip into someone else's pocket for money.

Justice Kaul: We began yesterday on those additional categories which arose later, where you gave solatium ... If you look at your table, some are less, some are more.

AG: Subsequent pages explain it.

Justice Oka: There is discrepancy between yesterday's and today's note.

AG: One is updated till 2022.

Order: Heard ld AG for the past two days for 7.25 hours. List tomorrow.

Salve: Lordships will hear (others), no problem. But, not all papers have been placed on record.

Nundy: We will attempt to satisfy that some paras of relevant orders were not read out.

#SupremeCourt