The Bhopal Gas Tragedy

THE SETTLEMENT Cont...

In 1991, the Bhopal court summoned Warren Anderson to appear on a charge of 'homicide in a criminal case.' However, he did not turn up.

On September 9, 1993, UCC sold its entire 50.9% stake in UCIL to the Calcutta based Mc Leod Russell India Ltd., a company of the B M Khaitan Group.

Till 2000, attempts to serve a summon on Warren Anderson by victims' organizations in the Federal Court on Southern district of New York have been unsuccessful. Kenneth McCallion, who was the lawyer for some of the victims and their family members, said a private investigator also hired to deliver the summons at Anderson's residences in Vero Beach, Florida, and Manhattan and Long Island in New York was unable to locate him.
 

Asked if he believed Warren Anderson had gone into hiding to avoid the summons, McCallion said, "We are just surprised we have been unable to find him, a former CEO of a major corporation." He observed, "And there is also a legal process which has been issued by the courts in India for him to appear in Bhopal district court to answer criminal charges and those attempts to serve him... have been unsuccessful as well." In 2001, in their book, It was five past midnight in Bhopal, Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro wrote that bringing UCC to justice was unlikely because UCC had been sold out. In August 1999, Dow Chemical purchased UCC for US$ 9.3 billion.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:

1.The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is a catastrophe that has no parallel in industrial history. Bring out the ethical issues involved in the case. Do you think the GoI and the Madhya Pradesh Government were equally responsible for the disaster? Explain with reasons.

2.Do you think Union Carbide Corp.'s response to the Bhopal Gas Tragedy was in line with the image it held in the public? What according to you UCC should have done to restore its image after the disaster?

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