Kerala high court may hold key to compensation to Air crash victims

Kerala high court may hold key to compensation to Air crash victims

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, May 18: The compensation issue to the passengers who perished in the horrific air crash of Dubai Mangalore Air India IX 812 has reached a flash point. There is one case of compensation which holds the key in the suit filed in Kerala high court in Ernakulum. This case has been filed by the Mangalore crash victims’ family association for Abdul Salam who lost his son in the crash.

The hearing has been completed and has been posted for judgment at least two months before the court closed for vacation on April 20, 2011. But a judge, who was to deliver the judgment, had abstained from giving the judgment following which the Kerala high court had assigned the case to another judge.The new judge has also had two rounds of hearing and has posted it for judgment after the vacation without specifying the date.

The court will open on May 22 (incidentally on the same date one year after the crash) and the association is trying to secure the judgment on the same day.

“This judgment will be a path-breaking event; it may set precedence for all further compensation issues in IX 812 crash case. Abdul Salam had been offered a compensation of ¤35 lakh by the Air India which he rejected on the advice of the association, on the basis of Montreal convention,” said association vice-president Varadarajan.

The association was finding it difficult to engage advocates who are knowledgeable with the Montreal convention, carriage by air act and other nuances of the air crash compensation procedure. “We are finding it difficult not because they are expensive but because the advocates are not knowledgeable about these acts and conventions. This lacuna has been working advantageous for the Air India as the firm engaged by Air India, Mulla and Mulla of Mumbai, was insisting that the claimants bring a right advocate along with the claim papers,” said Habib Rahaman, a member of the association.

“But the advocates we take with us meekly submit to the arguments of HD Nanavati who represents Mulla and Mulla and advise us. Due to this, many families have walked with compensations as low as Rs25 lakh or Rs35 lakh,” said Mohammad Beary, president of the association.

“This is why we have chosen to take it to the Kerala High Court. The Kerala chief justice was kind enough to put it on the fast track court and assign an alternative judge the very next hour when the first judge expressed helplessness to deliver judgment,” said Varadaraj.

The association, in addition to hiring a Swedish advocate to argue in courts in Dubai, also has to hire an advocate who is conversant in Arabic law of compensation, English language and Arabic language. The Dubai court requires that all proceedings be recorded in Arabic.

In the meantime, the association is holding a separate prayer meeting to condole the people who died in the crash. “We have decided to boycott the prayer meeting which the Air India plans to hold on the crash site on May 22 in protest of serious errors in the compensation pattern,” said Rahaman.