ToxicsWatch, Journal of Earth, Science, Economy and Justice

Chronology

On December 6, 1984, the M.P. government instituted a probe through a judicial commission known as the ‘Bhopal Poisonous Gas Leakage (1984) Inquiry Commission’ headed by Justice N.K.Singh, a then sitting judge of the M.P. High Court. It took three weeks for the State government to constitute a commission of inquiry. No one knows about the whereabouts of the papers of that were submitted to the judicial inquiry commission which detected the culprits of the gas leak disaster. Justice Singh was the judge of the High Court during April 7, 1983-June 8, 1990. He is no more.

The proceedings of the Rajya Sabha dated January 21, 1985 reveals that the Commission was expected submit its report by March 15, 1985. The proceedings referred to the terms of reference of the commission. Two technical assessors were appointed to assist the Commission The Commission was not granted time to finish its work. The M.P. government wound up the Justice N.K.Singh Commission on December 17, 1985 before it could complete the inquiry or even prepare a preliminary report regarding the causes of the disaster and the magnitude of its effects.  

On August 25, 2010, two months ahead of Justice Shanti Lal Kochar's retirement as judge from the M.P. High Court, M.P. government made him the head of one-man commission to inquire whether the rules and regulations were complied with while setting up the UCC's factory, whether adequate measures were taken by UCC to prevent mishaps, and if adequate safety measures were installed by UCC for the disposal of the hazardous waste after the 1984 disaster. The commission was asked to inquire into the role of the state government and others in the arrest, release and in providing safe passage to UCC chairman Warren Anderson, and any other matter arising out of or incidental to these issues. A release issued by Commission Secretary Shashimohan Shrivastava on August 18, 2010 said: ”The general public, any institution or organisation — which is aware of the inquiry’s subject matter — may submit written statements, evidence, documents or affidavits.” Justice Kochar was a judge of the High Court during October 22, 2001 to 26 October, 2010. He was expected to submit the Commission's report within six months. Unlike Justice N.K. Sing judiciary inquiry commission which was not given extension to complete its work, the tenure of the Justice Shanti Lal Kochar Commission was extended several times.

Were the Justice N.K. Singh Commission's papers given to Justice Shanti Lal Kochar Commission?  

The primary constituents of concern in the toxic waste at UCC's factory site are: benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, chlorobenzene, dichlorobenzene, dichloropropane, trichloroethene and vinyl chloride. 

In 1997, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) was commissioned to find out the extent of contamination at the Bhopal plant site. NEERI found high levels of toxins like sevin (carbaryl), lindane and alpha napthol were reported in its findings. In 1998, MP government took over Bhopal plant site. In 1999, Greenpeace conducted study which detected huge level of contamination around Bhopal plant. Activists sought legal remedies in US courts against UCC for environmental harm. In 2001, Dow completed acquisition of UCC. UCC became fully owned subsidiary of Dow. In 2004, Alok Pratap Singh of SUCI filed a public interest litigation in MP High Court praying for clean-up and immediate action of the factory site by Dow. In 2005, High Court set up a task force under the chairmanship of secretary, department of chemicals and petrochemicals, Government of India for removal of toxic waste from the plant. On May 13, 2005, the High Court's order was amended to include K P Nyati of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the committee. 

On May 31, 2005, the first meeting of the task force was held in New Delhi. MP Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) was chosen to act as the project coordinator for the work. CII suggested that the secured landfill site in Indore which is owned by Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd will be suitable for the disposal of the toxic waste. The task force suggests phase-wise treatment of waste. For in-situ remediation of contaminated soil and remediation of groundwater, NEERI, National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) and the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) were assigned the study by the task force. MP High Court ordered NEERI to undertake pre-treatment study. The contract for pre-treatment and packaging of the collected waste, about 390 tonnes was given to Hyderabad based company Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited. It emerged that 40 tonnes of the waste was found to be suitable for landfills. 

On July 4, 2005, the second meeting of the task force was held. The progress made in phase I work (collection of waste and preliminary analysis of samples) was reported. For phase III (dismantling and decommissioning of the plant), the IICT proposal of Rs 121.22 crore was discussed. The MP government communicated that the plant should not be dismantled and a memorial built at the site. 

On October 18, 2005, at the fifth meeting, the task force was informed by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) that the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) has no objection for the transportation of tarry waste to the state. In 2006, the technical sub-committee set up under the task force is expanded to co-opt two members: P M Bhargava (formerly with the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology) and J. P. Gupta, Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute. 

At the ninth meeting, on October 16, 2006, the task force discussed the status and profile of waste tested in laboratories. It was informed that Gujarat government will be informed that the quantity of waste to be sent for incineration is much higher. The cost of transportation and disposal was going to be borne by the Union and state government in the ratio of 50:50 vide the High Court's order of March 30, 2005. 

An the tenth meeting it was agreed that the Court would be informed that the cost of incineration would be Rs 2 crore. In February 2007, MP High Court directed that 350 tonnes should be sent for incineration to BEIL in Ankleshwar, Gujarat and the remaining 40 tonnes of lime sludge transported to the landfill in Pithampur. In October 2007, responding to the protests from environmental groups within the state, Gujarat government withdrew its NOC for one-time disposal of waste from Bhopal. In June 2008, 40 tonnes of hazardous waste was sent to the landfill site at Pithampur in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh. It was alleged that the transfer of the waste was in gross violation of hazardous waste rules under the Environment Protection Act, 1986 as the landfill site of Ramky in Pithampur is within 500 metres of a habitation area. 

In June 2008, at the fourteenth meeting, the task force agreed to look for alternatives to Akleshwar incinerator in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. NEERI and NGRI were required to complete the study by June 2010. In August 2008, Director of the Defence Research and Development Establishment, Ministry of Defence, Gwalior wrote to the Union government wherein it was claimed that the findings of the toxicity tests show that waste has very low mammalian toxicity and are non-skin irritants.

In December 2008, MP High Court reinstated its order to Gujarat government to accept 350 tonnes of waste for incineration, failing which contempt proceedings would be issued against them. 

In December 2008, Dow admitted in its 2008 annual report that present and future liabilities associated with asbestos cases against Union Carbide are expected at $2.2 billion. It inherited the burden of the UCC'S liability on its books but it refused to admit the same with regard to the liability of UCC's Bhopal factory. 

On January 19, 2009, Gujarat government filed a Special Leave Petition in Supreme Court appealing against High Court's order (CC 292/2009). The MP High Court's order was stayed. In April 2009, Bhopal Group for Information and Action and others intervened in the Supreme Court case and filed an affidavit asking that the waste be disposed off in a facility abroad as the sites in India are not ready or are inadequate to receive and dispose off the waste. On April 13, 2009, the Supreme Court heard the case. Gujarat government filed an affidavit raising legal and technical issues on the readiness of BEIL for incinerating the waste. On April 24, 2009, the Union government sought time to examine the matter. On July 20, 2009, at the eighteenth meeting, the task force agreed to set up an expert group under the chairperson CPCB to examine alternatives to the incinerator in Gujarat and to rank the alternatives in order of preference.

On October 28, 2009, at the nineteenth meeting, the task force discussed the report of the expert group set up to assess disposal facilities in the country; 5 TSDF sites are visited – Ankleshwar Gujarat, Dungigal in Hyderabad, Taloja Mumbai. The sites at Indore and Nagpur could not be cleared as the facilities were not ready. The Dingigul facility is 839 km from Bhopal and Taloja 779 km and transportation over long distances could pose problems. The expert group explored the option to incinerate the waste in cement kilns. The National Council for Cement and Building Materials conducted technical study of co-processing sludge of UCIL in cement plants and recommended blended sludge at rate of 2 per cent in kiln. The trial run was done in December 2009 and results were submitted to the task force in January 2010. Centre for Scienece and Environment (CSE) released its report showing contamination of the site in 2010. 

On January 28, 2010, the task force recommendations were presented to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ordered incineration of 346MT of waste at TSDF facility in Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh after a successful trail run and the case was sent back to MP High Court for further monitoring.

Group of Ministers on Bhopal decided to set up an Oversight Committee under the chairman ship of Minister of Environment and Forests during June 18-21 June, 2010. It had members from Government of India and M.P.. This committee replaced the Task Force committee to help in taking remedial action in dealing with the toxic waste. 

In June 2011, Union of India filed an affidavit in the M.P. High Court stating that 346 MT of waste can be sent for incineration at a secret DRDO facility in Nagpur. The M.P. High Court ordered that the M.P. government should take appropriate steps for transportation. On August 9, 2010, the union environment minister informed the parliament about it.

On February 22, 2012, in a meeting held at the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest with representatives of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and MP Pollution Control Board it was decided that 346 MT will be sent for incineration at the TSDF facility in Pithampur, MP. On February 24, 2012, it submitted a proposal to MP government stating that it can transport and dispose off the 346 MT in a facility in Hamburg, Germany.

On April 4, 2012, Government of India filed an Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court and got an order directing MP government to incinerate 346 MT of toxic waste at the TSDF facility in Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh.  

On August 09, 2012, in paragraph 35 (12) of its judgement, Supreme Court recorded: "It is indisputable that huge toxic materials/waste is still lying in and around the factory of Union Carbide Corp. (I) Ltd. in Bhopal. Its very existence is hazardous to health. It needs to be disposed of at the earliest and in a scientific manner. Thus, we direct the Union of India and the State of Madhya Pradesh to take immediate steps for disposal of this toxic waste lying in and around the Union Carbide factory, Bhopal, on the recommendations of the Empowered Monitoring Committee, Advisory Committee and the NIREH within six months from today. The disposal should be strictly in a scientific manner which may cause no further damage to human health and environment in Bhopal. We direct a collective meeting of these organizations to be held along with the Secretary to the Government of India and the Chief Secretary of the State of Madhya Pradesh within one month from today to finalize the entire scheme of disposal of the toxic wastes. The above direction is without prejudice to the appropriate orders or directions being issued by the court of competent jurisdiction." NIREH stands for National Institute of Research in Environment Health.

The ultimate paragraph of Court's judgement reads: "The Registry is directed to transmit the records of the Writ Petition No. 50/1998 to the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Bench at Jabalpur, forthwith and also send copies of this order to all concerned quarters of the Union of India, the State of Madhya Pradesh, the Monitoring Committee, the Advisory Committee, ICMR, BMHRC and the NIREH for compliance of these directions without delay and default." ICMR stands for Indian Council of Medical Research and BMHRC stands for Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre.

On September 17, 2012, GIZ terminated its offer to dispose UCC's toxic waste (346MT) in a facility in Hamburg, Germany because of protest in Germany.  

On October 21, 2012, the Group of Ministers on Bhopal decided to incinerate 10 MT of waste similar to UCC waste at the TSDF facility in Pithampur, Indore. 

On January 23, 2013, CPCB was asked to conduct another trial run and submit its report to the Supreme Court. 

On March 4, 2013, 10MT of hazardous waste from Hindustan Insecticide Factory, Kerala was identified to be similar to UCC’s waste. Supreme Court directed that 10 MT of the waste be transported from Kerala to Bhopal and incinerated at Pithampur, Indore. 

On May 8, 2013, the Union of India was allowed ten weeks' further time to complete the entire process of trial incineration of 10 metric tonnes of UCC's waste at Pithampur TSDF. The government of MP was directed to ensure the safety and security of the employees associated with the facility and the officials of the Ministry of Environment and Forest and the CPCB.

The order of M.P. High Court dated April 23, 2012 reads: Shekhar Sharma, appearing for Union of India, has produced a copy of the order dated 4.4.2012 passed by the Apex Court in petition for special leave to appeal ( Civil no.9874/2012). As the Apex court has granted 3 months' time to all the parties to implement the decision dated 22.2.2012 and has further directed that a report be filed before the High Court on or before 4th July 2012, hearing of this case is adjourned."

The order of M.P. High Court dated September 14, 2012 reads: "the Apex Court has fixed the case for hearing on 15.10.2012 and this matter may be heard thereafter. Shri Naman Nagrath submits that in Writ Petition (Civil) No.50/1998, the Apex Court has issued directions in paragraph 12 of the order in respect of disposal of toxic material/waste, which reads as under:-
'(12) It is indisputable that huge toxic material/waste is still lying in and around the factory of Union Carbide Corp. (I) Ltd in Bhopal. Its very existence is hazardous to health. It needs to be disposed of at the earliest and in a scientific manner. Thus, we direct the Union of India and the State of Madhya Pradesh to take immediate steps for disposal of this toxic waste lying in and around the Union Carbide factory, Bhopal, on the recommendations of the Empowered Monitoring Committee, Advisory Committee and the NIREH within six months from today. The disposal should be strictly in a scientific manner which may cause no further damage to human health and environment in Bhopal. We direct a collective meeting of these organizations to be held alongwith the Secretary to the Government of India and the Chief Secretary of the State of Madhya Pradesh within one month from today to finalize the entire scheme of disposal of the toxic wastes. The above direction is without prejudice to the appropriate orders or directions being issued by the court of competent jurisdiction.' Shri Naman Nagrath also submits that the directions have already been issued by the Apex Court so Union of India and State Government may be directed to comply with the aforesaid directions. As the Apex Court has issued directions, it is not necessary for this Court to issue any further direction in the matter. Union of India and State Government are bound to comply with the aforesaid directions." It ordered that it be listed for hearing on 21.11.2012 awaiting orders from the Apex Court in Civil Appeal No.9874/2012.  

On January 4, 2013, Supreme Court observed: "In this Court’s judgment in Writ Petition (C) No. 50 of 1998 etc. dated 9th August, 2012 in sub-para (12) of para 35, some directions were given with regard to the disposal of toxic materials/waste lying in and around the factory of Union Carbide Corporation Ltd., Bhopal. It has been brought to our notice by this interlocutory application that the Madhya Pradesh High Court has been monitoring the removal of the same toxic waste in Writ Petition No. 2802 of 2004 Alok Pratap Singh vs. U.O.I. And Ors. and against the orders passed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court, a Special Leave Petition No. 9874 of 2012 has been filed in this Court and a Bench of this Court is now monitoring the removal of the aforementioned toxic materials/waste. Obviously, the directions in sub-para (12) of para 35 in the judgment dated 9th August, 2012 may conflict with the orders that may be passed by the Bench hearing the Special Leave Petition No. 9874 of 2012. Hence, we delete the directions given in sub-para (12) of para 35 in the judgment dated 9th August, 2012. It will be open for the petitioner in Writ Petition (C) No. 50 of 1998 to intervene in the aforesaid Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 9874 of 2012."

In 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York upheld U.S. District Court Judge John F. Keenan’s comprehensive decision of June 2012 in the Janki Bai Sahu et al. v. Union Carbide Corporation. Judge Keenan had concluded that UCC is not liable for any environmental remediation or pollution-related claims made by residents near the Bhopal plant site in India and ruled that UCC had no liability related to it.   

In August 12, 2014, Sushma Swaraj, the then external affairs minister announced in the parliament that the M.P. government was contemplating action on the recommendations of the Justice Shanti Lal Kochar Commission report which “states that prime accused of the biggest industrial disaster, Warren Anderson, was allowed to walk out of jail at behest of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and home minister PV Narasimha Rao”. 

In July 2014, Judge Keenan ruled that UCC was not liable for any on-ongoing pollution from the Bhopal chemical plant in Jagarnath Sahu et al. v. UCC and Warren Anderson which was filed in 2007 in New York District Court seeking damages to clean up six individual properties allegedly polluted by contaminants from the Bhopal plant and the remediation of property in 16 colonies adjoining the plant.  

On August 14, 2014, Justice Shanti Lal Kochar visited the factory site of UCC to ascertain its status. The Commission asked the officials of the MP Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) to give a fresh special report on the toxicity situation on the factory premises. He asked the officials to collect the samples of soil, water and the toxic waste dumps on the premises and come out with a report by August 23, 2014. This report is part of the Commission's report. 

The writ petition of P. G. Najpande of Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak Manch, a Jabalpur-based social organization was admitted by the M.P. High Court on November 20, 2014 demanding that the report of the Justice Shanti Lal Kochar Commission report be made public. The report was submitted to the Chief Secretary, M.P. government and in the High Court. Before moving court, Najpande had sent a legal notice to to chairman and secretary of the Commission but there was no response.The commission had also recorded the statement of a local resident Nisar Ahmed in the case besides N R Krishnan, secretary of Arjun Singh, the former chief minister of M.P.  

On December 2, 2014, The Atlantic reported that thousands of tons of hazardous waste remain buried underground, and the government has conceded the area is contaminated.

The report of the Justice Shanti Lal Kochar Commission was submitted to Antony de Sa, Chief Secretary M.P. government in February 2015.  

In 2015, a trial run was conducted to dispose of toxic waste from the UCC's plant in Bhopal. The  trial incineration of 10 tonnes of UCC waste was carried out at the common hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facility (TSDF) in Pithampur in Indore during August 13-18, 2015, under the supervision of the CPCB, MPPCB and the Union Environment Ministry. 

In May 2016, the U.S Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York affirmed the lower court ruling in the matter of liability of UCC.  

On August 15, 2016, the U.S Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York rejected the petition for a rehearing after the lower court's decision stating that UCC was not liable for any plant site pollution effects arising out of the Bhopal tragedy. 

On November 22, 2016, the Madhya Pradesh unit of Communist Party of India (CPI) demanded that the Justice Kochar Commission’s report over Bhopal gas tragedy should be made public. In a statement it said that the time has come when the Government should make public the Kochar Commission’s report over Bhopal gas tragedy. The process of justice is getting obstructed due to non release of the Justice Kochar Commission’s report. The Bhopal gas victims are of the opinion that the Government is still trying to save the influential responsible accused of the world’s worst manmade disaster.  

In March 2017, the Union Minister of State of Environment assured that the Union government was committed to dispose hazardous materials from the factory site safely. 

On March 30, 2017 a news report pointed out that huge hazardous waste is still lying at the defunct Union Carbide factory of Bhopal which poses continuous hazard to the environment and public health.  A complaint was filed in the National Green Tribunal on the basis of the news report. 

Regarding Shanti Lal Kochar Commission's report M.P. High Court has recorded in its order dated September 18, 2017 that "Justice S.L. Kochar, Judge of the High Court of MP enquired into the above matter as of public importance. But despite the fact that this matter was enquired upon, the same has not been published" in Swaraj Puri vs. Abdul Jabbar (MCRC-15788-2017). 

A case related to disposal of toxic waste tying the factory of UCC, which is now represented by Dow Chemical Company and regarding import of hazardous waste was listed for hearing on January 10, 2018 in the Supreme Court of India. Its fate is note known.  

On July 28, 2018, Jabalpur Bench of the MP High Court ordered the MPPCB to not allow any movement of toxic waste from Bhopal's UCC site to the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) incineration facility at Butibori near Nagpur. The movement was stayed till August 11, 2018. The court also directed the pollution control boards of both the states to inspect the defunct plant site in Bhopal. The court's order came while addressing an intervention appeal filed by the Maharashtra government against the MP High Court's order of July 12, 2018 that allowed the incineration of toxic waste of the Union Carbide plant in Nagpur. Maharashtra government had submitted that MP government had not sought a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from them. In the intervention appeal the Maharashtra government submitted that since there was a facility in Pithampur, near Indore, to treat such waste, the waste should be disposed off within the state itself.

On July 18, 2018, the Supreme Court reiterated its  judgments dated July 6, 2012 and October 13, 1997 and October 14, 2003. It reads: "The Central Government is also directed to bring the Hazardous Wastes (Management & Handling) Rules, 1989, in line with the Basel Convention and Articles 21, 47 and 48-A of the Constitution." It was seized with issues like Preparation of a National Inventory of Hazardous Wastes; Complete identification and registration of Hazardous wastes generating units in the country;Construction of TDF/Landfills;Hazardous Waste Dump Sites; Waste Oil/Used Oil read with the order dated 23.10.2007; Setting up of laboratories at the docks/ports; Workers handling hazardous wastes and National Policy Documents on Hazardous Wastes as well as cleaner technology. It transmitted these issues to National Green Tribunal (NGT).

On April 7, 2021, MP government floated a tender to incinerate 337 MT waste of UCC's factory. The 74 page long tender stated that out of 377 MT waste, 92 MT is sevin residue and Naphthol residues, 29 MT process/ rector residue, 54 MT Semi-processed pesticide and 162 MT excavated waste/contaminated soil kept on the warehouse in iron tanks and other packaging. The tender was for only 5% of over 1.7 lakh tonne toxic waste at UCC's factory. 

On December 10, 2021, a complaint has been filed in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on the basis of media report dated 30.03.2017 highlighting that huge hazardous waste is still lying at the defunct Union Carbide factory of Bhopal, posing continuous hazard to the environment and public health.

On December 22, 2021, by NGT's order a joint Committee of the CPCB, State PCB and the District Magistrate, Bhopal was formed to ascertain the factual position in the matter. The State PCB was made the nodal agency for coordination and compliance. The joint Committee was supposed to undertake site visit and submit factual and action taken report within two months. The report was submitted on February 22, 2022. 

On March 9, 2022, the NGTs 12-page long final order was passed factoring the report dated February 25, 2022.   

On September 13, 2022, the M.P. High Court was informed that Alok Pratap Singh, the petitioner is no more. The order reads: "Since this is a PIL which has to be taken to its logical conclusion and cannot suffer abatement only due to death of the petitioner, this Court directs the Registry to mention the expression " (Deceased)" after the name of the petitioner in the cause-title followed by the expression 'In rem', with a red pen."

The order of M.P. High Court dated August 9, 2023 records: The Oversight Committee met on June 19, 2023 and resolve to recommend that the amount of Rs. 129 Crores be released by the Central Government in favour of State Government to carry out disposal of toxic waste lying at the site of the factory. The Ministry of Environment, Government of India on July 10, /2023 have sent requisite proposal for budget to Finance Ministry of the State of M.P. for the said amount and decision in that regard shall be taken shortly. 

The order dated October 12, 2023 records that an application titled as "Union Carbide's toxic waste by Intervenor & Expert: Bhopal Group for Information & Action" has been filed on 26.09.2023 whereas the affidavit in support is sworn and notarized on 23.09.2023."

On November 18, 2023, The Railwaymen: The Untold Story of Bhopal 1984, the web series was premiered.  

The order of January 24, 2024 records that  pursuant to the order passed on 29.11.2023, the proposal of the Ministry of Environment for release of the amount of Rs. 1 126,08,50,365/- has been approved by the Ministry of Finance and the supplementary demands for grant of cleaning up the waste for the financial year 2023-2024 has been accepted and thus the requisite funds shall be released soon.

The order dated May 2, 2024 states:Compliance report bearing No.4695/2024 has been filed by respondent No.3, which is accompanied by two letters; first dated 04.03.2024 and the other dated 20.03.2024 along with which a tentative work plan has been submitted for incineration of toxic waste within a minimum 185 days and maximum of 377 days. Counsel for State does not dispute that the amount of Rs.126,08,50,365/-has been received in the coffers of State Government credited by Central Government. Since vide Annexure-D/2 the Contractor entrusted with the work of incineration has already submitted a work plan, it would be appropriate to entrust the responsibility of overseeing the execution of the said work plan to the Oversight Committee constituted by this Court by order dated 30.03.2005 and submit a report once every three weeks about progress of execution of work plan by the Contractor. Let the case for ensuring progress of the work plan after perusing the report submitted by the Committee be taken up on 27.05.2024. I.A. No.14916/2023 raises the issue of contamination of ground water of the area where toxic waster is dumped. Learned counsel for intervener is required to demonstrate before this Court that no other PIL in this Court or in the Apex Court is pending on the said issue on the next date of hearing. 

The order dated September 11, 2024 reads: The petitioner has filed the present Writ Petition in the nature of Public Litigation Interest bringing to the notice about the inaction of the Central Government as well as State Government in taking effective steps to clean up the area around the Union Carbide Factory wherein thousands of tons of toxic waste and chemicals still lying dumped. 2. The Writ Petition came up for hearing on 30.03.2005 and after considering the seriousness of the matter, a Task Force for implementation of Toxic Waste removal/destruction was constituted comprising the following;-
(i). Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Government of India.
(ii). Principal Secretary, Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation, Bhopal.
(iii). Chairman, M.P. Pollution Control Board, Bhopal.
(iv). Expert to be nominated by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur.
(v). Expert to be nominated by the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad.
(vi). Technical Member nominated by Central Pollution Control Board, New Delhi.
3. Thereafter, an application filed by the Central Government seeking a direction to respondents 4 to 6 to deposit of Rs.100 crores for environmental remediation was considered. Vide order dated 13.05.2005, the Task Force constituted 30.03.2005 was reconstituted by adding Shri N.K. Niyati, Head of Environmental Management Division, Confederation of Indian, Industries, New Delhi. The Central Government and State Government were directed to bear the expenditure equally (subject to fixation of liability). In order to avoid the delay, Chairman, M.P. Pollution Control Board, Bhopal alongwith Principal Secretary, Bhopal Gas Tragedy,Relief and Rehabilitation and an Officer to be nominated by Accountant General, Madhya Pradesh were directed to negotiate with the three identified agencies and entrust the First Phase work. Thereafter, this Petition came up for hearing time to time and effective interim orders were passed by this Court. 4. On 26.10.2010, an application for review filed by the Union of India was considered and the name of 'Oversight Committee' was changed to 'Task Force Committee'. On 24.01.2024, the Deputy Solicitor General appearing for the Central Government informed to this Court that pursuant to the order dated 29.11.2023, the proposal of the Ministry of Environment for release of the amount of Rs.126,08,50,365/- has been approved by the Ministry of Finance and the supplementary demands for grant of cleaning up the waste for the financial year 2023-2024 has been accepted. The compliance report bearing No.4695/2024 filed by the respondent No.3 was taken up for consideration on 02.05.2024. Along with the said report, tentative work order was submitted which was to be issued for incineration of toxic waste within a minimum 185 days and maximum of 377 days. 5. Counsel appearing for the State accepted the fact of receiving the amount of Rs.126,08,50,365/- from Central Government. This Court directed the ''Task Force Committee'' to monitor the execution of the work by the Contractor and submit report once every three weeks before this Court. 6. Counsel for the parties jointly submits that till date the work has not been commenced by the Contractor. The work has to be conducted under the supervision of M.P. Pollution Control Board. More than four months have been passed and till date no progress report has been shown in this matter. It would be very difficult for all the members of Tax Force to assemble and submit a report in every three months before this Court, therefore, we direct the Chairman, of M.P. Pollution Control Board to personally look into the matter and submit report about the progress of work on the next date of hearing. The Superior Officer authorized by the Chairman, M.P. Pollution Control Board shall remain present before this Court on the next date of hearing to explain as to why there is delay in commencing the work, when the fund has been made available by the Central Government. 

Notably, the case of Alok Pratap Singh vs. Union of India a writ petition dated July 23, 2004 pertaining to the clean-up and removal of toxic waste from the factory site of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) in Bhopal was filed in M.P. High Court. Besides Union of India through Ministry of Environment and Forests, there are six respondents. They are: Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals of Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, the State of M.P through its Chief Secretary, M.P. Pollution Control Board, Dow Chemical Company (formerly UCC), UCC and Kolkata based Eveready Industries (I) Limited.

January 6, 2025: In Alok Pratap Singh case, the M.P. High Court passed an order. The order reads: "1. Pursuant to the order dated 03.12.2024, the respondent/State of Madhya Pradesh has filed an affidavit wherein it is stated that the waste was loaded in 12 fire proof and leak proof containers and transported in the long haul trailers / trucks on the night of 01.01.2025. The transportation of the waste was carried out with the support of the police and the administration wherein the support team consisting of doctors, fire brigade staff and reserved team consisting of skilled labourers was deployed. A green corridor was provided to the convoy and the transportation was done as per the approved SOP and tender requirements which were totally in line with the Central Pollution Control Board guidelines. 2. It is further stated in the affidavit that there has been a huge public outcry on the basis of certain fictitious media report wherein, baseless rumours have been floated with the various sections of the media to paint a picture that another industrial disaster would take place if the waste is unloaded and disposed off at the facility at Pithampur which would lead to severe environmental implications. That to cater to the said miss-publicity, the respondent has issued directions to various officials of the State to take actions to infuse confidence in the public and dispel their myths by giving them factual inputs so that they may not be misguided by the fake news and the wrongful information floated by miscreants and vested interest. The respondent/State has prayed this Court that the said exercise will take some time and at this juncture it is assured by the respondent/State that they will perform their duties and obligation and will take the public of Pithampur into confidence for the same. 3. Another Writ Petition bearing No.41965/2024 has also been filed whereby various issues have been raised. Some intervention applications have also been filed. Accordingly, we direct the respondents/State of Madhya Pradesh to take into consideration all safety measures and comply the order dated 03.12.2024. 4. The Print Media and Electronic Media are directed not to publish any fake news in the matter of disposal of waste material which is not real or not based on any foundation/evidence. 5. Learned Advocate General has requested this Court that they may be permitted to unload the material from trailers/trucks. It is pertinent to mention here that vide order dated 03.12.2024, this Court directed to take waste material from Bhopal and dispose off the same as per norms. Thus, no further order is required to be passed to unload the waste material. It is for the State to unload and dispose off the waste material as per direction of this Court dated 03.12.2024. 6. Further six weeks’ time is granted to respondent/State of Madhya Pradesh to comply the order dated 03.12.2024. WP No.41965/2024 and W.P. No.34550/2024 be listed alongwithWP No.41965/2024 and W.P. No.34550/2024 be listed along with W.P. No. 2802/2004W.P. No. 2802/2004 on 18.02.2025."

Prior to this the Madhya Pradesh High Court's division bench of Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain has orders of March 30, 2005, May 13, 2005, and June 23, 2005, September 11, 2024 and December 3, 2024 regarding the removal of toxic waste and the decommissioning of dangerous plants at the site of the factory of UCC in Bhopal. The December 2024 order reads: "We hereby direct that the Principal Secretary, Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department to perform its statutory obligations and duties under the Environmental Laws of this country. We further direct immediate clean up of the Union Carbide Factory site at Bhopal and to take all remedial measures for removal and safe disposal of the entire toxic waste/material from the area concerned. The cost if any, to implement the directions, shall be borne by the State Government and Central Government as already directed by this Court. The learned counsel appearing for Central Government submits that they have already paid their share to the State Government, however, the State Government has not spent that amount. Whereas the learned Additional Advocate General appearing for State submits that they have already received Rs.126 crores and contract awarded and the contractor has already been paid 20% of the aforesaid amount, however, till date the contractor concerned has not taken any steps." The Court observed: "We fail to understand that in spite of issuance of various directions from time to time by the Hon'ble Supreme Court as well as by this Court, pursuant to the plan dated 23.03.2024, till date no steps seem to have been taken to remove to the toxic waste/material. They are still in state of inertia despite 40 years from the date of gas tragedy. Though plan has been sanctioned, contract has been awarded, but still the authorities are in inertia that may lead to another tragedy to take shape before acting further." The order The Court directed that "the compliance report should be supported with personal affidavit of Principal Secretary, Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh. The said report shall contain each day's progress starting from tomorrow onwards." The Court recorded that The Regional Officer, M.P. Pollution Board, Dhar is present in person. It may be recalled that UCC's plant was set up without permission from the pollution control board. Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahyog Samiti, International Campaign for justice Sambhavana Trust, Bhopal (since June 23, 2005) and Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA) are interveners in the case.

Earlier, the Court had issued the following directions: The Principal Secretary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department to take immediate steps for the removal and safe disposal of toxic waste from the Union Carbide Factory site. Directed the State Government to commence the process within three weeks from the date of the order. Instructed that a detailed progress report, supported by personal affidavits from the Principal Secretary, be submitted daily, starting from the following day. The report should reflect the progress made in the cleanup. If the authorities failed to comply, the Principal Secretary would be liable for prosecution under the Contempt of Courts Act. Furthermore, the Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh and the Principal Secretary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department must appear before the Court if compliance is not achieved within four weeks. Mandated that all safety measures be observed during the transportation and disposal of toxic waste. If any department obstructs the process, the Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh is required to inform the Court so that strict action can be taken.

Dr. Gopal Krishna