Bhoja Air crash: Petitions seeking FIR quashment dismissed

Lawyers of Farooq Bhoja, Fayyaz Ahmed fail to convince IHC to keep their pleas.

ISLAMABAD: The Bhoja Air legal team was unable to convince the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to direct the government to quash the First Information Report (FIR) against the airline’s chairman Farooq Omer Bhoja and the admin assistant, Fayyaz Ahmed.

Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan of IHC on Monday dismissed the petitions saying that they were not maintainable.

Soon after the crash of a Bhoja Air Boeing 737-200 near Islamabad last month, killing all 127 people on board, the interior ministry placed the names of Farooq Bhoja, Fayyaz Ahmed and others on the Exit Control List (ECL) and directed the concerned police station to register FIRs against the airline’s top management.

Subsequently, Bhoja Air Secretary Mehmood Ali petitioned the IHC for quashment of the FIR against his boss, while Ahmed moved the court himself.

Both the petitions were fixed for hearing before Justice Khan, who had to decide whether the petitions were maintainable or not before beginning the trial.

After preliminary hearings of the petitions last week, Justice Khan issued notices to the interior and defence secretaries, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general, inspector general of the Islamabad police and the Koral Police SHO.

The replies from the respondents turned out to be the key factors which helped Khan decide the fate of the petitions, which he dismissed without hesitation.

Bhoja’s legal team had argued that since District and Sessions Judge Kosar Niazi had already granted interim pre-arrest bail to their clients, the court should consider the bail as interim relief and direct the authorities to quash the FIRs.

The counsel argued in the petitions that various aviation-related ordinances qualify as special laws as they govern all aspects of handling an air crash, including the subsequent inquiry and consequent action, while the registration of FIR has been done under a general law.

Mehmood said that the CAA director general had confirmed in a press conference that Bhoja Air was issued an Air Operations Certificate (AOC) after the completion of all regulatory requirements.

After meeting all operational, security and safety requirements, the airline successfully operated its first flight from Karachi to Lahore in March 2012, he added.

He further maintained that the interior ministry had placed Farooq Bhoja’s name on the Exit Control List despite the fact that Bhoja is a minority shareholder in the airline.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2012.