India May Refile Case Against Union Carbide : Law: The government said it will reinstate criminal charges if the firm’s $470-million Bhopal settlement is overturned.

India’s new prime minister said Sunday that his government will reinstate criminal liability charges against Union Carbide Corp. if the country’s Supreme Court overturns the previous $470-million settlement of the Bhopal poison-gas disaster.

“My government has decided in principle to review the settlement and to support petitions filed before courts by voluntary groups for its review,” Vishwanath Pratap Singh, who became prime minister Dec. 2, told reporters.

“Human life and criminal liability cannot be compromised,” Singh said during a four-hour visit to the disaster site. “There will be no compromise with the crime in the settlement for compensation with the company.”

Some 2,500 people were killed in December, 1984, when poison gas spewed out of the Bhopal pesticide plant in central India. The death toll has since risen to 3,400.

The previous government of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, which lost power in elections last November, settled for $470 million in compensation from the U.S. company after a Supreme Court order in February last year.

Several activist groups have filed public interest petitions before India’s highest court, seeking abrogation of the agreement and criminal charges against Union Carbide.

A spokesman for Danbury, Conn.-based Union Carbide said Sunday that he had nothing to add to an earlier statement on the case issued by the company’s vice president and general counsel, Joseph Geogan.

That statement said: “We are confident the settlement will stand. There is simply no basis for overturning it. The settlement was extremely fair and is a binding agreement . . . The new administration may not disavow the settlement because it disagrees with it.”

Singh said his government would reinstate criminal liability charges if a petition challenging the adequacy of the settlement is upheld by a special Supreme Court review panel.

Last Feb. 15, India’s Supreme Court accepted the $470 million as “full and final settlement” of the government’s suit, which had been dragging through Indian court procedures for about four years.

The Gandhi government originally sought $3 billion in damages and later filed criminal negligence charges against top officials of Union Carbide and its local subsidiary, Union Carbide of India Ltd.

When Union Carbide and the Gandhi government agreed on the $470 million, the Indian Supreme Court absolved the company of further civil or criminal liability.

However, under Indian law, the decision is subject to review if challenged. Gas victims and activist groups challenged.