Institute of Legal and Management Studies

The Supreme Court, on September 26, issued notice to the Secretary of the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, Chief Secretary of Government of Madhya Pradesh and Principal Secretary of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief & Rehabilitation Department in a contempt petition regarding the non-compliance of the directions passed by the Court in 2012 for the Bhopal gas tragedy victims for computerisation of medical records and providing medical care to them.

A bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice AS Chandurkar issued notice in regards to the non-compliance of directions issued in writ petition no. 50 of 1998 in Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sangathan v Union of India, passed on August 9, 2012. Through the said directions, the Court had also transferred the matter to the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur bench, for the administrative supervision and proper execution of the orders.

The contempt petition alleges that the matter has been pending before the High Court for more than 12 years for compliance with directions. The petitioners had filed a contempt petition in 2015 for the non-compliance; however, for the last ten years, the High Court has restrained itself from initiating any punitive action against the Respondent authorities.

The contempt petition alleges the following:

The Monitoring Committee, which was constituted by the Court in 2004, was re-constituted by the High Court in 2013, of which Justice VK Agarwal, retired judge of the High Court, was appointed as the Chairperson. The said Committee has submitted 21 reports recommending the actions required by the authorities for compliance with the 2012 directions. But there is almost total non-compliance.

For instance, the Monitoring Committee has notified that many faculty/doctors serving in Bhopal Medical Hospital and Research Centre have left or are leaving the office. However, the vaccines have not been fulfilled.

Several warnings have been issued by the High Court from 2013 onwards forewarning the Respondent authorities about the consequences of non-compliance, but all these warnings have had no impact on them.

In the matter related to the vacant posts, the High Court on September 7, 2016, directed the Union Government to file a report and observed that if it is not satisfactory, the Court may take coercive actions against them. Again, in 2017, the High Court found that Union is deliberately delaying the matter and is not taking proper steps for the formulation of the Rules and taking steps for the recruitment of doctors and other staffs.

So far as computerisation is concerned, though the NIC and the gas hospital report that the same is over, the Monitoring Committee thinks that the same is not satisfactory and is not patient-centric, as it does not appear to be useful in affording a case history of treatment of the patients.

Even in this case, the Court had issued multiple directions and warnings, but it has not been adhered to. On January 6, 2025, the High Court expressly criticised the callous stance of the State and said: "it seems that the respondents are not serious about the work to be completed."

The matter will be heard on November 14.

Case Details: BHOPAL GAS PEEDITH MAHILA UDYOG SANGHATHAN AND ANR. v PUNYA SALILA SRIVASTAVA AND ORS|Diary No. 39365-2025 PIL-W

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Appearances: Mr. Sanjay Parikh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Anuj Kapoor, AOR Mr. Nandeesh Nanda, Adv. Ms. Kritik