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BHOPAL: A division bench of Madhya Pradesh high court on Monday kept in abeyance the Oct 8 order of a separate two-judge bench that stayed the disposal of 800 metric tons of toxic ash generated by the incineration of 337 metric tons of waste from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal at a landfill site in Pithampur in Dhar district.The bench of Justices Vivek Kumar Singh and Ajay Kumar Nirankari was hearing state govt’s plea seeking recall of the Oct 8 order directing it to find an alternative site for the disposal of the incinerated toxic ash as the site identified for the purpose was only 500 metres from human settlement.During the previous hearing on a petition filed by activist Alok Pratap Singh seeking a clean-up of the Carbide plant, the state counsel had requested the bench to recall the Oct 8 order handed down by Justices Atul Sreedharan and Pradeep Mittal.The bench of Justices Singh and Nirankari, while keeping the earlier order in abeyance, directed govt to instead comply with a preceding HC directive of Dec 3, 2024, and complete the ash disposal within the next two months in consultation with an expert committee constituted by the court. In the Dec 3, 2024 order, a division bench headed by then chief justice S K Kaith had come down heavily on govt over the “inordinate delay” in the disposal of 337 metric tons of packaged waste from the Carbide site, ordering immediate steps for its disposal. The packaged waste was incinerated at the Pithampur TSDF facility despite protests from nearby residents and some groups, including those representing locals and victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, who moved court opposing the burial of the Carbide ash at that site.
