Monday, December 16, 2013

Court permits Air India to pay part of compensation to Mangalore crash pilot’s kin

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday passed an order directing the labour court to disburse Rs 2.75 crore to the family of Captain Zlatko Glusica, the pilot of the Air India Express flight that crashed in Mangalore on May 22, 2010, killing 158 people.
The Glusicas had approached the labour court in 2012, saying that while families of the first officer and crew members of the ill-fated flight were paid the workmen's compensation due to them, they received nothing. Air India disputed the compensation amount claimed by the family.
On October 18, the labour court in Mumbai rejected Air India's claim and ordered it to deposit $7.45 lakh (Rs 4.63 crore) as per the workmen compensation package, plus 50 per cent of the compensation amount as penalty for delaying the payment, and 12 per cent interest per year on the compensation amount from the date of the accident till the date of depositing the amount.
Air India subsequently received a notice from Yashwant Shenoy, the constitued attorney of the family, stating that he would be filing an application before the labour court for disbursement of the entire amount based on the October 18 order.
The airline, represented by advocate Firoz Bharucha, then moved the high court for a stay on the order.
While hearing Air India's appeal, Justice Bhatkar asked advocate Bharucha to allow the labour court to disburse a part of the compensation to the family before Christmas.
At this point, advocate Bharucha volunteered to have the entire undisputed amount - Rs 2.77 crore - disbursed as long as the money was given directly to the family and not to their constituted attorney, who had filed an application before the labour court asking that the entire amount be given to him.
17/12/13 Bapu Deedwania & Bipin Kumar Singh/Mumbai Mirror
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