September 6, 2011: The Kerala High Court on Monday directed Air
India to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to legal heirs of a victim of
the last year’s Mangalore air crash in which 158 persons were killed.
The direction in this regard was issued by Justice Antony Dominic on a
petition by the wife and two children of Ignatius D’Souza of Mangalore
who was killed in the crash.
The court granted two weeks’ time to AI to pay the amount. The
petitioners have not so far received any compensation from the national
carrier. The petitioners — Patricia and her children — contended that
despite the claim for quantified damages made under the provisions of
carriage by Air Act 1972, AI insisted that the claimants should receive
lesser compensation. The petitioners then approached the High Court
seeking a direction to settle their entire statutory claim made under
the act by payment as no fault liability. The petitioners had sought
1.13 lakh SDR (Special Drawing Rights) as compensation. SDR is a special
currency issued by IMF.
Earlier, a division bench had set aside a single judge’s direction to
the national carrier to pay a minimum compensation of one lakh SDR (Rs
75 lakh) to the parents and brothers of another victim of the air crash.
One hundred and fifty-eight passengers and crew onboard the Air India
aircraft from Dubai were killed when the plane caught fire after one of
its wings hit a hillock at Kenjar in Mangalore in May last year.
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