Air India crash: Supreme Court questions preliminary report suggesting pilot error; calls it 'unfortunate'

A bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotishwar Singh issued notices to the Centre and DGCA, seeking their responses in two weeks on a petition moved by Safety Matters Foundation. It described as “unfortunate” the public release of a preliminary report by the DGCA that implied one of the pilots could be at fault for moving the fuel control switches from “RUN” to “CUTOFF” seconds after take off, resulting in the loss of thrust.

During the hearing, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, argued that despite 102 days having passed since the crash, there has been “no clarity on what happened, why it happened and what precautions are to be taken,” leaving passengers in similar aircraft at risk. He also flagged the conflict of interest in the probe panel, three of whose five members belong to the DGCA, an authority under scrutiny for alleged negligence.

The bench acknowledged the demand for an impartial inquiry, but raised concerns about making all information public before the probe concludes. “You want an impartial inquiry, and we understand it. But why do you want everything to come in the public domain?” the bench asked.