Justice Agrawal new chairman of gas victims rehab committee

Madhya Pradesh High Court today appointed former judge, Justice V K Agrawal, as the chairman of the five-member committee constituted on the directive of the Supreme Court for rehabilitation of Bhopal gas tragedy victims. The decision to appoint Agrawal as the chairman was taken by a division bench of Chief Justice Ajay Khanvilkar and Justice K K Lahoti while hearing a petition filed by NGOs fighting for the rights of victims. The bench also appointed the dean of Bhopal’s Gandhi Medical College Bhanu Pratap Singh as a member of the committee and directed that it should meet before January 15 and take decisions in the light of the Supreme Court directives. [caption id=“attachment_1282853” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file picture of victims of Bhopal gas tragedy hold posters during a demonstration outside a court in the central Indian city of Bhopal on June 7, 2010. Reuters[/caption] The Supreme Court had issued 20 guidelines on the issue of rehabilitation but they were not heeded, petitioners had pointed out. Though the state government had constituted the committee on the directives of the Supreme Court, its chairman resigned sometime back because of the government’s “indifferent” attitude, petitioners said. Other members of the committee are senior journalist Purnendu Shukla, Director, Medical Education, Dr Nirbhay Shrivastava and Principal Secretary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department. At least 3,000 people were killed and thousands of others were maimed due to leakage of toxic gas from the plant of Union Carbide in Bhopal in December 1984. PTI