BHOPAL: The Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), USA, “has lost faith in the Government of India and there was virtually no possibility of the UCC or its lawyers appearing before Indian courts in connection with the case”, counsel for the Union Carbide India Ltd, in the Bhopal gas disaster case, Rajendran Singh, said here.
Singh made the remark when the chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal, Gulab Sharma, asked him why the UCC could not get funds from its own resources for the hospital it was to build for the victims.
The Supreme Court had, in February 1989, entered into a settlement with the UCC for Rs 470 million under which criminal proceedings against it in the Bhopal gas disaster case were quashed, Singh said,
Countering CBI counsel US Prasad’s contention that the UCC was behaving in a dishonest manner, Singh asserted “We have a much stronger case for calling the other side dishonest but we are not doing it.”
Singh said even if the UCC shares in the UCIL were attached, it would not serve any purpose for even if an attachment order was issued here, it would have to be sent to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Calcutta, as the shares were there.
Moreover, the UCC would be given six months to file objections against the attachment and two years to prove that it did not know of it being proclaimed as an offender in the case. Meanwhile, construction of the hospital would be held up during that time, adding to the misery of the victims, he said.
Everyone knew that the money meant for the victims was not reaching them and had instead “benefited” those not affected by the disaster, he said, adding Rs 50 crore would be required to build and maintain the hospital for eight years.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 15, 1992
