The Capital outlays on the hospital and its opera- tion expenses for providing free treatment and services to the victims should, both on humanitarian considerations and in fulfilment of the offer made before the Bhopal Court, be borne by the UCC and UCIL. It is not part of the function of this Court to reshape the settlement or restructure its terms. This aspect of the further liability is also not a matter on which the UCC and the UCIL had an opportunity to express their views. However, from the tenor of the written submissions made before the District Court at 270
Bhopal, both the UCC and UCIL had offered to fund and pro- vide a hospital for the gas victims. The UCC had reiterated that in January, 1986, it had offered to fund the construc- tion of hospital for the treatment of gas victims the amount being contributed by the UCC and the UCIL in equal propor- tions. It is, no doubt, true that the offer was made in a different context and before an overall settlement. But that should not detract the UCC and the UCIL from fulfilling these obligations, as, indeed, the moral sensibilities to the immense need for relief in all forms and ways should make both the UCC and UCIL forthcoming in this behalf. Such a hospital should be a fully equipped hospital with provi- sion for maintenance for a period of eight years which may involve the financial outlay of around Rs. 50 crores. Con- tingencies such as payment of compensation to the persons who were exposed to the Bhopal gas disaster, who though presently asymptomatic and filed no claim for compensation but might become symptomatic in future and the yet unborn children of mothers exposed to MIC toxicity, who may develop congenital defects, shall be taken care of by obtaining an appropriate medical group insurance cover from the General Insurance Corporation of India or the Life Insurance Corpo- ration of India. There shall be no individual upper monetary limit for the insurance liability. The period of insurance cover should be a period of eight years in the future. The number of persons to be covered by this Group Insurance Scheme should be about and not less than one lakh of per- sons. Having regard to the population of the seriously affected wards of Bhopal city at the time of the disaster and having regard to the addition to the population by the subsequent births extrapolated on the basis of national average of birth rates over the past years and the future period of surveillance, this figure broadly accords with the percentage of population of the affected wards bears to the number of persons found to be affected by medical categori- sation. This insurance cover will virtually serve to render the settlement an open ended one so far as the contingent class of future victims both existing and after-born are concerned. The possible claimants fail into two categories; those who were in existence at the time of exposure; and those who were not yet unborn and whose congenital defects are traceable to MIC toxicity inherited or derived congeni- tally. The premia for the insurance shall be paid by the Union of India out of the settlement fund. The eligible claimants shall be entitled to be paid by the insurer com- pensation on such principles and upon establishment of the nature of the gas related toxic morbidity by such medical standards as are applicable to the other claimants under the Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster (Processing of Claims) Act, 1985 and the scheme framed thereunder. The individual claimants shall be entitled to have their claims adjudicated under the statutory scheme. [367 G-H; 368 A-H; 369A-B; 370 B-C] U.K. Law Commission Report on "Injuries to Unborn Children". 271
referred to.
Supreme Court of India
Union Carbide Corporation Etc. ... vs Union Of India Etc. Etc on 3 October, 1991
Equivalent citations: 1992 AIR 248, 1991 SCR Supl. (1) 251
