The Supreme Court on Friday (February 2) requested the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court to constitute a committee headed by a senior judge to look into the complaints regarding compensation of Bhopal gas tragedy victims.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud was acting on a plea by the Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sanghathan, alleging that the victims have not been compensated as per the orders of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

Even after 33 years of the tragedy, the victims are running from pillar to post to get compensation. In January 2017, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had pulled up the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for not providing proper medical care and attention to the affected persons of the tragedy.

The Court had noted: “Instead of taking expeditious steps for utilisation of the money and recruitment of doctors/specialists to provide long term solution for the treatment of the Bhopal gas victims, the bureaucracy is not moving, and if moving, it is at a snail’s pace.”

—India Legal Bureau