The Supreme Court has sought response from the Central Government on another petition regarding the Air India plane crash that took place in Ahmedabad on June 12. This petition has been filed by Pushkarraj Sabharwal, father of pilot Sumit Sabharwal who died in the accident. He has demanded that there should be a new, impartial and transparent investigation into the accident. This investigation should be under the supervision of a retired judge.
Before this petition, on September 22, the Supreme Court had also issued a notice on the petition of an organization named Safety Matters Foundation. It has been alleged in this petition that the investigation of this accident in which 260 people died is not being conducted in a transparent and impartial manner. The court has sought response from the Central Government, Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on the petition.
It has been alleged in both the petitions that the investigation being conducted by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is not correct. In this, an attempt has been made to ignore the technical flaws and put the entire responsibility on the pilots, but the pilots who lost their lives in the accident are now not even in a position to say anything in their defence.
What is the matter?
On June 12, an Air India Boeing plane going from Ahmedabad to London fell shortly after take-off. Due to this, 241 people sitting in the plane died. 19 people were also killed at the place where the plane fell. The petitioners say that even after several months have passed since the incident, people do not know how this accident happened. Who is responsible for it?
What happened on the petition of the pilot’s father?
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta clarified that the pilots have not been held responsible in the AAIB report. He said that such investigation is done as per international standards and legal procedure. Since some foreign nationals were also involved in the accident, representatives of other countries also took part in the investigation.
SG Mehta said that after the interim report came, some confusion had arisen regarding the pilot’s mistake. Therefore, the Civil Aviation Ministry issued a press note making it clear that no one has been held guilty for this accident.
The judges assured
During the hearing, the bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi assured the petitioners and said that the purpose of the AAIB investigation is not to hold anyone responsible. This investigation is to identify the causes of the accident so that such incidents do not happen again in future.