In a major setback for the Centre, the Supreme Court today dismissed a plea seeking higher compensation from Union Carbide for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy that killed over 3,000 people. The Center in a curative petition sought that the matter be reopened and Union Carbide be directed to pay an additional compensation of Rs 7,844 crore to the victims of the gas leak disaster. The government had argued that at the time of the settlement in 1989, the enormity of the actual damage caused to human life and the environment could not be properly assessed.