Air India appeal challenging compensation for air crash dismissed

Ahmedabad: Twenty three years after a gruesome plane crash of 1988 near Ahmedabad, in which 130 persons were reportedly killed, the family of a deceased get relief as Gujarat High Court has dismissed Air India Limited’s appeal challenging an order to pay compensation to them.
The bench comprising Justices Jayant Patel and RM Chhaya has dismissed the airline’s appeal against judgment and decree passed by the trial court in September, 2009. The trial court had ordered the company to pay Rs 7.80 lakh with 9 percent interest to each of families of the deceased.
Air India Limited {which was previously known as National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL)} challenged the trial court’s order on grounds of limitation.
However, the bench said the petition was meritless and deserved to be rejected.
The case concerns the claim filed by legal representatives of deceased Tejraj Jain, who was travelling from Bombay to Ahmedabad on 10 October 1988, by Indian Airlines, run by NACIL. The flight met with an accident near Ahmedabad in which many persons died. Soon after the accident, the airline authorities asked legal heirs of the deceased to supply information and to draw the claim. The company offered to pay Rs. 2 lakhs towards the full and final settlement for death of the deceased. However, the families of the deceased suggested that the sum should be paid subject to the final decision by competent court. As the airline didn’t accept it, the families refused to take the amount offered to them.
The families then approached the high court for recovery of damages as well as challenging the constitutional validity of certain provisions of Carriage by Air Act, 1972. Their petitions were ordered to be converted into civil suits for claim of compensation and were remitted to civil court.
09/07/11 Tejas Mehta/Law et al. news

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Categories: Air India Jul 2011, Safety Jul 2011