PESHAWAR, Oct 16: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday ordered the defence ministry and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to submit the report of the inquiry conducted by foreign aviation experts into the 2010 Airblue plane crash, which had left all 152 people on board dead.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Irshad Qaiser was informed by CAA senior legal adviser Obaidur Rehman Abbasi and lawyer Abdul Shakoor Paracha that two foreign aviation experts had submitted a 325-page inquiry report to the defence ministry on Oct 13.

They said they would produce the report only after the prime minister allowed to do so.

The bench observed that since production of the report was ordered by it, there was no need to get the prime minister’s approval for it.

It directed the two lawyers and counsel for the defence ministry Afnan Kundi to submit the said report within three weeks, and adjourned the next hearing to Nov 14.

The bench was hearing a writ petition filed by former MNA Marvi Memon and family members of some passengers of the Airblue plane, which crashed on July 28, 2010. They have prayed the court to order independent inquiry into the crash and also provision of appropriate compensation to the bereaved families.

Mr Abbasi informed the bench that the two international aviation experts had arrived in Pakistan on June 3 and had completed their investigation on June 8. He said CAA had cooperated with the experts and given it freehand to conduct the inquiry.

The re-investigation was conducted on the order of the high court. The court had earlier expressed dissatisfaction with the previous inquiry conducted by the Safety Investigation Board of CAA wherein errors by the pilot and inclement weather were held responsible for the air crash.

Meanwhile, the court allowed time to the management of Airblue to verify the succession certificates and indemnity bonds submitted by family members of the dead passengers who had so far not received compensation.

A representative of the legal heirs of the deceased passengers, Junaid Hamid, informed that 40 passengers had not been given compensation and in accordance with order of the court, they had submitted succession certificates and indemnity bonds in the high court.

Abdul Lateef Yousafzai, lawyer for Airblue, requested the court to allow them some time so that they could verify these documents.