The Central government on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that the probe into the Ahmedabad plane crash is being carried out by Indian authorities in line with the international mandate set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), news agency ANI reported.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that the Ahmedabad Plane Crash involved foreign nationals, which necessitates an investigation under the international regime governing air crashes.
After hearing the Centre’s submissions, the Supreme Court directed the petitioners — the father of late Captain Sumit Sabharwal and the NGO Safety Matters Foundation — to file their counter-replies to the government’s affidavit, ANI reported.
Earlier, the top court had sought the Centre’s response on pleas demanding an independent, court-monitored inquiry into the Air India crash near Ahmedabad that claimed 260 lives on June 12.
During Thursday’s hearing, Senior Advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Prashant Bhushan, representing Pushkarraj Sabharwal — father of Captain Sumit Sabharwal — and Safety Matters Foundation, reiterated their request for a court-supervised probe, ANI reported.
Bhushan argued that, as per government regulations, an accident of such magnitude requires an inquiry under judicial supervision.
Sankaranarayanan agreed that while an international framework exists for investigating such crashes, the Centre was not fully adhering to it.
The Supreme Court clarified that the preliminary report of the Air Accident Investigation Bureau of India (AIBB) was not meant to assign responsibility or blame for the tragedy.
“It is not for apportioning responsibility; it is to clarify the cause and then give reasoning of the crash,” Justice Joymalya Bagchi observed.
Counsel for the petitioners also informed the court that the Centre had yet to file its written response to their pleas. Taking note of this, the bench directed the government to submit its reply in writing and asked the petitioners to file counter-affidavits thereafter.
The matter will be listed for the next hearing on a later date, which will be confirmed once the court’s order is uploaded on the official Supreme Court website.
(With ANI inputs)
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