Supreme Court Asks Gujarat High Court to Initiate Suo Motu Case for Dahej Accident Victims

The Supreme Court on Wednesday requested the Gujarat High Court to initiate suo motu proceedings to identify the victims of the May 2022 Dahej industrial accident, in order to pay compensation due to them under a National Green Tribunal (NGT) ruling confirmed by the top court. An amount of ₹3,27, 82,418 had earlier been deposited with the Court's registry, which was earmarked for compensating the victims of the 2022 blast and fire at Bharat Rasayan’s pesticide plant in Dahej, Gujarat.This fixed deposit was made after the company submitted in August 2024 that it was not able to readily trace some of the intended beneficiaries of the compensation. On Wednesday, a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said that this cannot be a ground to indefintely delay the payment of compensation to the victims. "The earlier inability to trace the beneficiaries cannot defeat, or indefinitely postpone, disbursal. We cannot accept the bald-faced plea taken by the appellant-company that the claimants are not traceable. A Court-supervised exercise is necessary to identify them, verify their entitlement and facilitate payment," it said. CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, Justice V MohanaThe Court, therefore, requested the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court to ensure that suo motu proceedings are registered to trace the remaining beneficiaries and pay them the due compensation amounts. The High Court has been requested to id