SG Mehta said the government will submit the final report, as soon as it is finalised, to the SC in a sealed cover
NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Tuesday accepted the request of the father of the pilot, who died in the Ahmedabad air crash last June, for not making public the final inquiry report, expected in Oct, and the Centre said that it will furnish the report in a sealed cover to the court.Solicitor general Tushar Mehta told a bench of CJI Surya Kant, and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana that govt respects the sentiments of the pilot’s father and will submit the final report, as soon as it is finalised, to Supreme Court in a sealed cover. The SG, however, brushed aside objections to the ongoing inquiry into the crash of Air India’s London flight that killed 260, all but one passenger and many on ground.Appearing for the NGO, advocate Prashant Bhushan attempted to punch holes in the inquiry, terming it to be biased because of absence of independent members in the probe team and said it did not follow the standard operating procedure for such inquiries. The solicitor general said the inquiry is being conducted following prescribed process scrupulously.Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on July 14 had responded to the petition filed by the deceased pilot’s father Pushkar Raj Sabharwal, and said, “In view of the nature, scale and complexity of the present accident, the AAIB has carefully assessed the timeline for completion of the investigation. In all probability, the investigation activities, subject to resolution of the pending external dependencies, are anticipated to be completed within six weeks.””Thereafter, the draft final report, following completion of the analysis phase, is expected to be ready approximately in Oct 2026,” it had said. “As per the treaty mandate, upon preparation of draft final report, the same has to be mandatorily shared with the Accredited Representatives of the State of Design and Manufacture, for comments, as required under the relevant rules of International Civil Aviation Organisation , which in the present case – the National Transportation Safety Board, USA.”
