Though the horror of 159 passengers being charred to death on May 22, 2010, has now faded away from public memory, families of the victims are still waiting for the ‘right compensation’ in at least two courts. The IX 812 Dubai—Mangalore flight overshot the runway and crashed into a valley at Bajpe.
“We had questioned the disparity in awarding the compensation of women and children who died in the crash as some of them were given lower than the recommendation of the Montreal convention. The recommendation of the convention does not discriminate women and children when awarding compensation. We had challenged it in the Kerala High Court, but Air India got it set aside through the divisional bench, which forced the Mangalore Air crash Victim’s Families Association (MACVFA) to file a revision petition in the Supreme Court,” said Mohammad Beary, president of the Association.
In the second set of compensation cases, a few families thought that they were entitled for a higher compensation but they did not get what they expected. “18 families questioned the lower compensation in the Mangalore court. The Kerala HC, in its order, had observed that those who were dissatisfied with the compensation, can approach the court. Air India had closed the issue after awarding compensation. In some cases, Air India had given compensations up to Rs8 crore, while in some other cases, the compensation was lower than the recommended sum in the Montreal convention. Hence, the case has been reopened as per the observation of Kerala HC,” Beary added.
However, some of the families of the victims have been quietly leading their lives without bothering much about the legal issues over the compensation. The association membership and attendance of members in the meetings has been dwindling and this time (on May 22) the association may not even hold a meeting of the families as many of them are totally out of contact. “We will have a quiet meeting at the homes of one of the victims in Mangalore and another in Kasargod,” he said.
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