THE SUPREME COURT ON THURSDAY sought a response from the Central government on a petition filed by Pushkar Raj Sabharwal, father of the late Pilot-in-Command of the ill-fated London-bound Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad airport, killing all 260 people on board. The Centre, through Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, meanwhile maintained that no blame was being cast on the pilot.
A Bench of Chief Justice-designate Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notice on the plea, even as the Solicitor General attempted to allay concerns that the investigation was attributing fault to the deceased pilot.
“There is an international convention… there’s ICAO [‘International Civil Aviation Organisation’]… there is a regime in place. Suppose some foreigners were also victims — those countries send their representatives for investigation. I understand the feelings of the father… there’s no blame attributed to anyone. Since there was some misconception, the Ministry of Civil Aviation issued a press release,” Mehta told the Bench.
Sounding a note of caution, he added, “Any interference by anyone might be counter-productive to the investigation that is ongoing.”
Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Sabharwal, however insisted that the regime of investigation referred to by the Solicitor General had not been followed. “Let them file their reply,” he said.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Safety Matters Foundation (‘SMF’), said, “There have been several system failures in 787s after the crash… everybody flying in these aircraft is at risk. Pilots’ associations have said they need to be grounded immediately.” He said that under the rules of the government itself, this kind of serious accident requires a court inquiry and not just an Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (‘AAIB’) inquiry.
