As the Union Cabinet decided to file curative petition in the Supreme Court for review of its 1996 judgement diluting charges against Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) officials, a series of warnings about gas leakage accidents between 1972 and the December 1984 tragedy could become a valid ground for it.
As per the detailed analysis done by some NGOs on the history of reported complaints by workers of UCIL with the management since 1972, would prove handy for the Centre and the CBI to seek review of the 1996 verdict, given by a bench headed by the then CJI A.M. Ahamadi, converting the charge of “culpable homicide not amounting to murder (section 304-II of IPC) to death due to negligence (section 304-A)”.
As per the available data, in 1972, two unions of UCIL workers had complained about pollution within the plant and in 1981, a worker was splashed in phosgene. Again in January,1982 there was phosgene leak when 24 workers were exposed and hospitalised but none of them were provided masks.
In February1982, some 18 workers were affected, while there was complaint about a chemical engineer coming in contact with dangerous methane-isocyanides (MIC), resulting in 30 per cent burns in August the same year. Nearly two months later in October 1982, there was again leak of MIC, methylcarbaryl choloride, chloroform and hydrochloric acid. In an attempt to stop the leak, a MIC plant supervisor suffered intensive chemical burns and two other workers were severely exposed to gases. During 1883 and 1984, leaks in the plants of MIC, chlorine, monomethylamine, phosgene and carbon tetrachloride were reported by the workers.
It was not that the UCIL management was not aware of all these developments as a report was issued by some scientists “warning of possibility of an accident”, the NGOs later said in their reports.