Air India crash: Supreme Court seeks Centre's response to plea by plane captain's father for judicial probe

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Central government on a petition filed by the father of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the pilot who was in command of the Air India plane that crashed at Ahmedabad in June this year.

The plea seeks an independent judicial probe into the mishap that caused deaths of 260 people.

During the hearing today, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central government, submitted that no blame was being attributed to anyone for the plane crash. He also submitted that any interference in the matter may be counterproductive to the ongoing investigation by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)

"There is an international convention. There’s international civil aviation organisation. They have prepared mandatory steps to be taken in case of investigation of air crashes. There is a regime in place. Some foreigners are also victims. Those countries also send their representatives in the investigation. I understand the feelings of the father. There is no blame attributed to anyone. The MCA has issued a press note that there is no blame attributed to anybody," Mehta told the Court.

The petition filed by Pushkaraj Sabharwal has sought the constitution of a judicially monitored committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and with independent experts from the aviation sector as its members to conduct a fair, transparent and technically sound investigation into the crash of the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.

As per the plea jointly filed by Sabharwal and Federation of Indian Pilots, the investigation presently being undertaken by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation and the DGCA and the preliminary report dated June 15 submitted pursuant to that probe are defective and suffers from serious infirmities and perversities.

The petitioner has contended that the report implausibly asserts the cause of the crash to pilot error, while overlooking other glaring and plausible systemic causes that demand independent scrutiny and investigation of the incident.

A related petition filed by a non-governmental organisation Safety Matters Foundation was also listed before the top court today.

During the hearing today, Justice Bagchi said that Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) enquiry was not for apportionment of responsibility but to clarify the cause and give recommendations to avoid such cases in future.

"The supplemental central government investigation may get into the question of apportionment," the judge added.

Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the Captain's father, said that rules for a fair probe were not being followed.

"The regime that Mr. Mehta has mentioned has not been followed. That’s the problem. It has not been properly followed," Sankaranarayanan said

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, argued that serious accident that causes loss of lives require a court of enquiry and not just an investigation by AAIB. He also pointed to reported issues with Boeing 787 Dreamliner. 

"It is very alarming. There have been many system failures in these 787s. Everybody flying in these aircrafts is at risk. The pilots association has said that these aircrafts need to be grounded immediately," he said.

However, the Court sounded a caution in this regard.

"Let’s not create an impression that it will look like a fight between the airlines," Justice Kant said.

Meanwhile, the Court declined to entertain a plea moved by a student.

"Don’t ask the students to come here. Students should concentrate on education. There was a student of law challenging the 1950 constitutional order the other day. We will not entertain all this," Justice Kant said.