Inspection of aircraft: PHC asked to submit comprehensive report

Court adjourned till October 16; AirBlue’s counsel absent from court.

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday termed the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA’s) inspection report of aircraft of all local airlines as incomplete and directed the authority to submit a “true and comprehensive” report to the court.

PHC Chief Justice (CJ) Dost Muhammad Khan stated this while heading a divisional bench with Mrs Justice Irshad Qaisar. He was hearing a petition filed by Marvi Memon against the AirBlue airline’s administration for its failure to compensate legal heirs of the victims of its plane crash.

CAA Senior Legal Advisor Obaid Abbasi informed the bench that experts of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) have completed reinvestigation of the crash, adding that once they file a report on it the CAA will submit it to the court.

When the CJ enquired Advocate Umer Adam, the counsel for the crash victims, about how many legal heirs of the AirBlue crash victims have been compensated, Adam replied that while a majority of the legal heirs have been compensated, the remaining few will be recompensed once they submit indemnity bonds.

The court adjourned the case till October 16 after it was informed about the absence of AirBlue’s counsel, Waseem Sajjad.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2012.