The Supreme Court on Monday accepted the resignation of former Chief Justice of India, Mr A.M. Ahmadi, as the Chairman of the Bhopal Memorial Hospital Trust (BMHT) and allowed the Centre to take over its management. A bench comprising Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices, Mr K.S. Radhakrishnan and Mr Swatanter Kumar allowed the Centre to take steps to wind up the Trust and run the hospital looking after the victims of the 1984 gas tragedy. The bench accepted the letter written by Justice Ahmadi on June 20, 2009 expressing his desire to be relieved as the Chairman of the hospital. It appreciated the "good service" rendered by Justice Ahmadi in running the trust for the last 12 years. Attorney General, Mr G.E. Vahanvati, conveyed the decision of the Centre to take over the management of the hospital.
Justice Ahmadi, who was part of the SC Benches that had taken decisions on the Bhopal gas tragedy case, including the dilution of harsher penal charges in 1996, had written to the then CJI, Mr K.G. Balakrishnan, seeking to be relieved from the chairmanship of the BMHT.
Justice Ahmadi was appointed as the chairman of the BMHT on May 15, 1998.
Following a Supreme Court order, the accused company Union Carbide had set up a trust in London on March 1992 and Ian Percival was appointed as its sole trustee.
However, after the death of Percival, Bhopal Memorial Hospital Trust was constituted.
The then Madhya Pradesh government leased out land to the trust to set up super-speciality centres to treat the victims.
Around 32 health centres including six hospitals were constructed by the trust.