The Supreme Court has ticked-off various state authorities for their casual approach in dealing with complaints of groundwater contamination in and around Bhopal's Union Carbide factory as a consequence of the world's biggest industrial disaster in December 1984. A bench of justices Altamas Kabir and J Chelameshwar made the observation while refusing to entertain a plea of Lucknow-based Indian Institute of Toxic Research, IITR, to grant it three months time from the date of the beginning of collection of water samples to file its report. The court directed IITR to collect the samples from the place and submit a report to it before September the 26th.