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Informist, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on a public interest litigation seeking a court-monitored independent investigation into the London-bound Air India plane crash in Gujarat on Jun. 12. "Issue notice to respondents for the limited purpose of ensuring a free, fair, impartial, independent and expeditious investigation by an expert body," said the bench of Justices Surya Kant and N.K. Singh.

 

The petitioner, Safety Matters Foundation, an aviation safety non-government organisation, said that the preliminary report issued by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau was "incomplete, selective, and lacking in transparency, thereby undermining the credibility of the investigative process and the trust of the travelling public". The petition came after an Air India flight from Ahmedabad to Gatwick in London crashed seconds after takeoff on Jun. 23, killing 241 passengers and the crew. 

 

According to the petitioner, the preliminary report failed to comply with Rule 2(25) of the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2017, which states that such a report serves the purpose of disseminating all data obtained during the early stages of the investigation. The petition stated that the preliminary report contained selective disclosures, such as paraphrased references to cockpit voice recordings without timestamps, full transcripts, or corroborative context. "This selective presentation creates a misleading impression and undermines transparency...Such selective disclosure of partial information has the effect of shaping a biased public perception, one that tends to attribute the cause of the accident to pilot error while absolving the manufacturer and the airline of potential responsibility," the plea added.

 

The non-government organisation alleged that by releasing incomplete and unverified extracts of the cockpit voice recording, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has created an information environment that unfairly tilts the narrative in favour of the operator and manufacturer, contrary to the principles of impartiality, transparency, and public accountability that must govern air accident investigations. The petitioner has sought directions to authorities to make publicly available the complete data retrieved from the crashed airline. Further, the petitioner has sought appointment of independent experts to monitor the investigation, saying the "selective and incomplete disclosure of critical information, coupled with the premature attribution of pilot error while overlooking systemic faults, has resulted in a continuing violation of Article 21 and also Articles 14 and 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India".

 

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, argued that it had been more than 100 days since the crash occurred. However, all that was done so far was a preliminary report, said Bhushan. The report doesn't say what has happened or what may have happened and what precautions should be taken, he added. The result is all passengers who are travelling on these Boeing planes are at risk today, said Bhushan. 

 

Further, Bhushan said that the authorities had appointed a five-member team to investigate the crash, of which three are serving members of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, creating a serious conflict of interest. Bhushan asked how officers of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, whose role was likely to come under scrutiny, could be part of the investigation team.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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