The Delhi High Court rejected the PIL, which had demanded reading down i.e. limited reading of the preliminary investigation report of the Air India plane crash that took place in Ahmedabad on June 12 last year. 270 people lost their lives in this tragic accident.
During the hearing, the division bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Tejas Karia said that the petition is completely based on misunderstanding. The court made it clear that the principle of reading down applies only during the interpretation of law or any statute and not on the investigation report prepared by experts.
The court said that the preliminary report of the plane crash has been prepared by experts and the court should not interfere in such technical matters.
Delhi High Court said, cannot order to change the report
Delhi High Court commented that if someone finds shortcomings in the report, it does not mean that the court should be demanded to change or modify it. This report has been prepared by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.
According to the investigation, Air India’s Boeing 787-8 flight AI171, which was going from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed shortly after take off. Initial investigation revealed that the fuel supply to both the engines of the plane had stopped with a gap of one second.
Demand to tell the time of fuel cut-off and flame out of engines
In the Delhi High Court, petitioner and engineer Suresh Chand Srivastava had demanded the court to make public the exact time of fuel cut-off and flame out of the engines. He claimed that ‘surge’ could be the reason for engine failure. However, the court said that the investigation is still going on and to get such information the petitioners can contact the concerned authorities under the RTI Act.
The court made it clear that the petition cannot be used to give such information and on this basis the petition was rejected.