India not to pursue Bhopal compensation case in US courts
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COMMENTS 
The Centre has decided not to pursue the Bhopal gas tragedy compensation case in US courts
Union Law and Justice Minister M Veerappa Moily has said that the central government will not pursue the Bhopal gas tragedy compensation case in the US courts, observing that it was not in the interest of the country or the victims.
“The central government has reportedly decided not to pursue compensation from the parent company, Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), in any US court. The country’s courts are competent and capable of resolving the matter,” he said addressing the media on October 27, 2010.
The law minister was responding to a question on the opinion of Attorney General G E Vahanvati that India should not become a party in compensation-related cases in the United States.
In the early hours of December 3, 1984, around 40 metric tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant. The government says around 3,500 people died in what is the world’s worst industrial disaster. Rights activists claim 25,000 people have so far died.
The group of ministers that looked into various aspects of the Bhopal gas tragedy had sought legal opinion on the possibility of filing cases in the US courts to enhance the $470 million compensation extracted from Union Carbide in 1989.
Set up to re-examine the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, the group of ministers, headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram, recommended that the central government give additional compensation worth Rs 1,500 crore to victims and petition the Supreme Court for a review of its judgment diluting charges against the perpetrators, among other things.
Source: Press Trust of India, October 28, 2010
ANI, October 28, 2010