Supreme Court Issues Notice On Plea Assailing Disposal Of Chemical Waste From Bhopal Gas Tragedy Site At Pithampur, Indore

The Supreme Court today issued notice on a petition assailing Madhya Pradesh High Court's direction for transportation and disposal of 337 metric tonnes of "hazardous" chemical waste from the Bhopal Gas Tragedy site to Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and AG Masih passed the order.

To recapitulate, the impugned direction was passed by the High Court in a 2004 Public Interest Litigation filed assailing 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 is lying dumped.

On December 3, 2024, terming the non-removal of toxic waste from the now-defunct Union Carbide Factory site at Bhopal a "sorry state of affairs", the Jabalpur Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court directed authorities to immediately clean-up the site and take all remedial measures for safe disposal of the waste/material from the area. It was noted that 40 years had lapsed since the Bhopal gas tragedy but toxic waste material was still lying at the now-defunct Union Carbide Factory.

Thereafter, on January 6, the High Court ordered media to not publish any fake news or misinformation regarding the disposal of Union Carbide waste material at Pithampur facility.

Assailing these two orders, the petitioner approached the Supreme Court. Senior Advocate Devdatt Kamat, appearing for petitioner, submitted that the High Court has directed disposal of the chemical waste without issuing any advisory. "The citizens there are up in arms...nothing has been said, no advisory has been given...this is hazardous waste!", he exclaimed.

Referring to State of MP's own affidavit, the senior counsel further informed that the Pithampur facility is surrounded by habitation of people, who may be exposed to side-effects of gases released while incinerating the toxic waste. The Tarapura village comprising of 105 houses is only 250 metres away from the Pithampur facility and people in the village need to be relocated, but nothing has been done, he added.

It was also mentioned that the Pithampur disposal site is near a river (Gambhir River) and any contamination thereof can have catastrophic consequences for public health and the ecosystem.

Hearing Kamat's submissions, the Court issued notice on the petition and listed the matter next week.

What does the petition say?

The petitioner assails MP High Court's direction to the authorities to transport the Bhopal Gas Tragedy chemical waste to Pithampur before 03.01.2025 "despite significant public health and environmental risks".

He points out that the citizens residing in Pithampur as well as Indore are protesting against the action of the State Government, as there was neither any discussion on this with the people, nor the State Government issued any clarification/advisory with respect to the safety and security of the people residing in the vicinity.

Besides the direction for disposal of the chemical waste at Pithampur, the petitioner challenges another order of the High Court which prohibited the media houses from publishing and broadcasting fake news with respect to the issue. In this regard, the petitioner asserts that publication/broadcasting of fake news is even otherwise illegal and prohibitory, but the High Court finding has hindered the publication of even genuine and well-researched reports.

Referring to an affidavit filed by State of MP, the petitioner highlights the technical inadequacies of the Pithampur facility, including failure to meet permissible limits during prior test runs. "there are 4-5 villages situated within the radius of 1 km from the disposal facility, whose life / health are at high risk...the waste disposal process is expected to go on for a long period of 8-9 months to dispose off the huge quantity of 347 of highly toxic chemical waste, which is bound to create life risk and hazardous situation for the huge population", he says.

As an alternative, the petitioner suggests that it would be reasonable and safe to divide and bifurcate the waste and dispose it off in various facilities in small quantities. He also asserts that the respondents have not informed the affected residents of Indore and Dhar districts about the risks or issued health advisories, violating their right to be heard and right to health.

The petition further states that, "Pithampur is the industrial area having more than 1250 industries in running, densely populated and situated only 30 KM from the Indore City. Being the industrial area major population of the Pithampur is labour class, having very less means of survival. Further, there is no proper Government Hospital situated in Pithampur."

"Indore city is adjacent to Pithampur Industrial Area, therefore the present proposed action of disposal of the hazardous waste in the Pithampur plant of Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited (hereinafter referred as Ramky) is dangerous for the residents of the life and health of the residents of Indore as well as Pithampur. This might cause the repetition of 1984", the petitioner warns.

The petition is filed through Advocate-on-Record Dr. Sarvam Ritam Khare.

Case Title: CHINMAY MISHRA Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., Diary No. 3661-2025