BHOPAL SETTLEMENT: India challenges its Supreme Court

In yet another jolt to the Bhopal chemical disaster case, the Indian government has repudiated last year's $470 million settlement ordered by the Indian Supreme Court. In a press conference held on Jan. 11, the new Law and Justice Minister, Dinesh Goswami, said the government of Prime Minister V. P. Singh would support the appeals pending before the court challenging the settlement. These appeals essentially say that the court had no constitutional right to drop criminal charges against Union Carbide, that the $470 million settlement figure was inadequate against the extent of human damage, that Carbide should have paid at least $190 million in interim settlement costs in addition to the settlement, and that the government was negligent in not consulting the victims in arriving at the settlement figure. Goswami's announcement is a shocking turnaround in a case that has taken twists and turns ever since the night of Dec. 2-3, 1984, when methyl isocyanate ...