PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has given the federal government 45 days to produce the final report of investigation into the Dec 2016 PIA plane crash, which had left all 47 people on board dead near Havelian area in Abbottabad district.

A bench consisting of Justice Ikramullah Khan and Justice Ijaz Anwar disposed of a petition jointly filed by two Chitral residents, including former MNA Shahzada Iftikharuddin, and Adnan Khan, whose brother was killed in the crash.

The petitioners had requested the court to either order the release of the final crash probe report or direct the respondents, including the federal government, Civil Aviation Authority and Pakistan International Airlines, to set a time frame for the purpose.

They had also sought orders for the respondents to immediately release the details of all people, who were on board the PK-661 flight, and those of the compensation paid to them and how the compensation was computed.

Disposes of petition on accident, which killed all 47 on board near Havelian

An ATR 42-500 aircraft had taken off from the Chitral Airport for Islamabad on Dec 7, 2016, but it crashed near Havelian area killing all 47 people on board, including singer-turned-preacher Junaid Jamshed and Chitral deputy commissioner Osama Warraich.

Barrister Asadul Mulk appeared for petitioners, while deputy attorney general Aamir Javed appeared for federal government and lawyers Asad Jamal Qureshi and Mehmood Alam Khan for the Civil Aviation Authority and PIA, respectively.

DAG Aamir Javed produced a CAA letter issued on Sept 4, 2020, seeking more time to produce the crash inquiry report and said the same request had been made to the Sindh High Court, where an identical petition was pending adjudication.

He said more time was required to complete investigation and finalise the report.

Lawyers for the respondents said all crash victims had been compensated.

They said the crash investigation hadn’t been completed due to the pandemic-induced travel restrictions but it would be completed shortly.

Barrister Asadul Mulk said not all liabilities had been discharged as under the Carriage by Air Act, 2012, Rs5 million was the minimum quantum, in respect of which liability couldn’t be excluded, but it didn’t represent the upper limit.

He said if the final report revealed negligence on part of the carrier, the Carriage by Air Act 2012 allowed all passengers to quantify losses separately, which would be treated in addition to Rs5 million, which had already been extended.

The lawyer referred to paras 17 and 21 of the Fifth Schedule of the Act regarding the liability of the carrier and extent of compensation for damage.

The bench ruled that the reference of the petitioners’ counsel to Para 21 of the Fifth Schedule would be relevant when the final report or recommendations of the investigation were produced.

It added that the lawyer for petitioners felt satisfied with the time frame sought by the respondents saying he won’t press the petition for the time being and reserved the right to move the appropriate forum after the results of the investigation emerged.

In June last year, the high court had directed the federal government through the aviation secretary and PIA chairman to produce the inquiry report before the end of Dec 2019.

However, the deadline was missed promoting the respondents to seek more time from the court for the purpose saying some parts of the crashed plane, including Black Box, had been sent to France for examination.

Barrister Asad said the petitioners knew that investigation into the plane crash like other such incidents would take time, so they patiently waited for the final report to come out.

He added that initially, the petitioners were verbally informed by the PIA and CAA through their employees and agents that the investigation would take few months but later, they learned that the report would be released in a year’s time.

The lawyer said more than three years had passed to the plane crash but the respondents had yet to release the report.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2020