Supreme Court asks NGO to voice concerns about mercury seepage from Bhopal gas tragedy waste’s residual ash before Madhya Pradesh High Court

Supreme Court directs NGO to present mercury concerns from Bhopal gas tragedy waste to Madhya Pradesh High Court for review.

The Supreme Court asked the Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahyog Samiti to approach the Madhya Pradesh High Court with their concerns about the whereabouts of high quantities of mercury, which was part of the 337 metric tons of toxic waste.

The hazardous waste was the fall-out of one of the biggest industrial disasters globally after methyl isocyanate gas leaked out of the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) plant site in December 1984. The gas leak claimed over 5400 lives.

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The waste had been lying buried near the plant site for over 40 years until the High Court ordered its transfer and incineration at a facility in Pithampur in the State.

Appearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, the NGO, represented by senior advocate Anand Grover and advocate Anuj Kapoor, urged the apex court on Monday (March 16, 2026) to check the filter bags and buried residual ash from the incineration of the waste to check the mercury content.

The NGO referred to studies conducted by Professor Asif Qureshi of IIT Hyderabad belying claims by the authorities that mercury content has drastically reduced following incineration.