Bhoja Air crash: IHC proposes name of former PHC justice for commission chief

CAA’s counsel requests court to defer decision till report finalised.

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday proposed the name of a former Peshawar High Court judge to head up a judicial commission probing the Bhoja Air crash.

Justice (retd) Khailur Rehman had earlier excused himself from investigating the matter due to personal reasons. Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui while hearing a case regarding the Bhoja aircrash proposed the name of Justice (retd) Abdur Rehman Khan to probe the matter, provided the retired judge consented.

During the course of Friday’s hearing, Bhoja Air’s counsel Mahmood Alam requested that the court review its decision to constitute a commission. He maintained that the case was pending before the court and there was no need to constitute a commission.

The counsel for Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) informed the court that the authority would submit its report in the next four weeks and requested the judge not to appoint the commission’s chief, till then. However, Justice Siddiqui observed that even after the passage of a year since the crash, CAA had still not submitted a report.

An IHC official told The Express Tribune that Justice Rehman might be reluctant to take charge due to poor health.

In June, the IHC had appointed former Supreme Court judge Justice (retd) Ramday, as head of the judicial commission probing the Bhoja plane crash in response to a petition filed by the victims’ families who had requested an independent inquiry into the incident.

On April 20, 2012, Bhoja Air flight 213 crashed in the outskirts of Islamabad killing all 127 passengers and crew members on board. The case has been pending in the IHC since September last year. The victims’ families took the airline’s administration to court when it failed to provide compensation to families, while demanding a fair investigation into the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2013.