New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday granted three weeks’ time to the Centre to place on record the status of the probe into the Ahmedabad air crash that claimed 260 lives.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing pleas, including one filed by the father of late Captain Sumeet Sabharwal — the Pilot-in-Command of Air India flight AI-171 that crashed June 12, 2025 — seeking an independent, court-monitored investigation into the tragedy.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), submitted that the inquiry by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) was in its final stages.
“We are at the fag end of the enquiry, and the report will soon be prepared,” the Centre’s second-highest law officer told the apex court, adding that certain aircraft components had been sent to foreign jurisdictions for specialised testing.
Since victims of multiple nationalities were involved, SG Mehta said that international protocols were being followed in the inquiry.
Taking note of the submission, the CJI-led Bench granted three weeks to the Centre to complete the exercise and directed that the report be filed in a sealed cover along with an affidavit detailing the procedural protocol followed so far.
“What is the procedural protocol followed? Tell us in three weeks,” the top court said, also asking for a progress report to be placed on record on the next date of hearing.
Appearing for NGO Safety Matters Foundation, advocate Prashant Bhushan submitted that pilot associations had flagged concerns regarding the safety of Boeing 787 aircraft and had sought that such planes be grounded pending a thorough examination.
“The entire pilots’ association is saying there is a problem in the Boeing 787 aircraft which needs to be grounded,” he contended, adding that neither the government nor the AAIB had responded to the representations raising these issues.
Appearing for Captain Sabharwal’s father, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan reiterated the plea for a court-monitored investigation, alleging that in previous instances involving aircraft crashes abroad, initial findings had attributed blame to pilots, only for subsequent inquiries to reveal technical defects.
He referred to past Boeing 737 crashes where, according to him, pilots were initially faulted before US regulators found defects in the aircraft, contending that crucial documents in those cases were not immediately made public.
Observing that the tragedy was “very unfortunate”, the bench cautioned against making sweeping remarks against any particular aircraft model or airline without conclusive findings.
“Let us be very careful while making remarks against any particular brand of aircraft. Dreamliners were once considered the best,” the apex court remarked.
Referring to recent media reports about an alleged fuel switch issue in another Dreamliner flight, the bench said that initial claims were later clarified by official sources. “Last week, it was said that a Dreamliner from London to Delhi had a problem with the fuel switch. Later, it was said from the official account that it was perfectly fine. But this incident, of course, was very unfortunate. Let us be very conservative while making comments on a particular airline,” it said.
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