SC agrees to hear pleas related to June 12 Air India plane crash

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a PIL of an NGO alleging that the official probe into the June 12 Air India plane crash violated citizens fundamental rights to life equality and access to truthful informationAir Indias Boeing 7878 flight AI171 en route to Londons Gatwick airport was operated by pilotincommand Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and copilot Captain Clive Kunder The crash took place after the flight took off from Ahmedabad killing 260 people including 241 passengers and crew on boardOn Wednesday a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was told by lawyer Prashant Bhushan appearing for PIL petitioner NGO Safety Matters Foundation that so far neither the Centre nor the the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board AAIB have filed their replies to the petition The entire pilots association are saying there is a problem in the Boeing 787 aircraft which needs to be grounded Bhushan submittedSIR hearing on pleas related to special intensive revision of electoral rolls pleas will be over today and we will give you a short date the CJI told Bhushan On November 13 last year the top court said deceased pilot Captain Sabharwal of Air India was not blamed in the AAIBs preliminary report into the crashIt had also issued notice to the Centre and the Director General of Civil Aviation DGCA on a plea of Pushkaraj Sabharwal the father of Captain Sabharwal Pushkaraj Sabharwal and the Federation of Indian Pilots moved the Supreme Court for a courtmonitored inquiry headed by a former apex court judge into the crash of the Air India flightThe top court was hearing three petitions filed by an NGO a law student and the father of the deceased pilot seeking an independent courtmonitored investigation into the crash Among the 241 dead were 169 Indians 52 Britons seven Portuguese nationals one Canadian and 12 crew membersThe lone survivor of the crash was Vishwashkumar Ramesh a British national Bhushan said a parallel inquiry should be conducted like a court of inquiry into the accident of such a major scale He submitted that serious accidents require a court of enquiry and not just an investigation by AAIBOn September 22 while entertaining the plea of the NGO the top court termed as unfortunate and irresponsible the selective publication of a preliminary report on the Air India crash which outlined lapses on the part of pilots and paved the way for a media narrativeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever