The Kerala high court on Wednesday ordered Air India to pay Rs 75 lakh to the families of each of the kin of those killed in last year’s Mangalore air crash. Justice P R Ramachandra Menon said Air India was liable to pay the compensation equivalent to one lakh Special Drawing Rights (SDR), a kind of International Monetary Fund currency. The bench was hearing Abdul Salam and Ramla’s petition. Their 24-year-old son, B Mohammed Rafi, was killed in the crash. The petition challenged AI’s Rs 35 lakh compensation and said the victims’ families were entitled to damages of Rs 1.5 crore for the carrier’s liability as per international law. The HC noted that India was a party to the Montreal Convention meant to ensure parity in compensation. The compensation would be distributed over a period of one year and will cost the cash-strapped carrier about Rs 118 crore. The compensation in rupees varies as SDR value is based on a basket of currencies and fluctuates between Rs 70-75 lakh. An Air India Express flight from Dubai carrying 166 people overshot the Mangalore tabletop runway and fell off a cliff while landing on May 22, 2010. The crash killed 158 people. Eight survived with injuries. Serbian pilot Captain Zlatko Glusica piloted the Boeing 737 that had flown from Dubai. The flight’s cockpit voice recorder data showed that the instrument had picked up snoring sounds indicating that the pilot had dozed off for about 90 minutes and failed to pull up the plane after it lost control. He also ignored advice of his co-pilot. A Court of Inquiry blamed pilot error for the mishap. Mangalore Air Crash Victims’ Families Association President Mohammed Beary welcomed the judgment. “We will call for a meeting shortly. When Salam filed the petition, pilot error was not established. “Now that it has been established, we will ask our members for their opinion. We will file petition in the Kerala high court for those who want one lakh SDR,” he said. “For those who want more than one lakh SDR, we will ask the Swedish law firm Advokaterna Liman & Partners to negotiate with the underwriter at London.’’ The petitioners’ lawyer, Kodoth Sreedharan, said,“The court has given a direction (to Air India) to pay no fault liability of one lakh SDR with the balance compensation (whatever is claimed) within a month.’’
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