BHOPAL: The Chief Judicial Magistrate of the Bhopal District Court Mr. Gulab Sharma issued an order for a non-bail able arrest warrant against the former Union Carbide Corporation chairman Mr. Warren Anderson on March 27.

The order was passed during the hearing of the criminal case against the American multinational its Indian subsidy and officials who have been accused of criminal negligence leading to the Union Carbide gas disaster on December 3, 1984.

The criminal case has been revived as a result of the final verdict passed by the Supreme Court last year. In its order the high court has upheld the final settlement of $470 million compensation reached between the Government of India and the UCC in February 1989 but separated the criminal case from the final settlement and allowed its revival.

The order for the arrest warrant against Mr. Anderson which would make possible his extradition was issued after the senior public prosecutor Mr. U.S. Prasad who is representing the Central Bureau of Investigation informed the court that it would not be possible under the U.S. laws to ensure the former UCC chairman’s presence in the court by attaching his property declared Mr. Anderson an absconder and ordered that his property be attached.

Mr. Prasad filed a petition urging them to attach UCCs property in India but the magistrate reserved his ruling in this regard since Mr. Rajendra Singh the counsel for the Indian defendants sought time to file a reply in connection with the CBIs petition. Mr. Rajendra Singh also argued that attachment of UCCs property of India which was mainly in the form of shares would have direct repercussion on the share market as well as the UCIL.

“The CBI presented before the court the copies of proclamations published in the Washington Post (February 21) and Times of India (February 26) declaring UCC as an absconder. However the CBI informed the court that the proclamation had not been published against UCC (Easter) Inc. Hong Kong because the organization was no longer in existence.

The CBI counsel also told the court that the chief investigating officer in the Union Carbide as Mr. S.U. Khan had died in a road accident on the intervening night of March 7 and 8. Due to this reason he informed the court that the investigation findings could not be handed over to the defendant’s lawyer.

Article extracted from this publication >> April 10, 1992