BHOPAL, India, Oct.27 Reuter: The judge named to hear the case for compensation for victims of the World’s worst industrial accident was today seriously injured in a road accident, local officials told Reuters.
They said Judge K.S. Shrivastava had suffered multiple fractures when the bus in which he was travelling from the town of Seoni, near Bhopal, to his home at Chindwara, was in collision with a truck.
Judge Shrivastava, 48, is due to hear the case for compensation brought by the Indian government against the US. Union Carbide Corporation over the escape of Toxic Methyl Isocyanate Bhopal Pesticides Plant on December 3, 1984.
On October 7th, the Judge set October 30 as the date for the next hearing in the damages suit.
An official of the law department in Central Madhya Pradesh state, in which Bhopal stands, told Reuters today’s accident put it in an awkward position, as under law the next hearing must be within 30 days.
He said another judge might be appointed but that would entail further delay while he familiarise himself with the thousands of documents in the case.
Judge Shrivastava, one of 40 People on board the bus, all of whom were injured, was tonight in serious condition in hospital in Jabalpur; Hospital sources said doctors would decide tonight whether to transfer him to Bombay for further treatment.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 31, 1986
