AI Mangalore crash: SC raises hope for victims' kin

The Supreme Court has raised some hopes among the dependents of Mangalore air crash victims as it issued notice to Air India asking it why the compensation for families of 159 victims shouldn’t be increased to Rs75 lakh each.

Admitting a petition that challenged a Kerala High Court ruling giving a free hand to the national carrier to fix the compensation amount, the court on Tuesday issued notices to National Aviation Company Ltd (formerly Air India) and Union government.

Petitioner’s counsel Harish Salve argued that Air India is bound to pay a minimum compensation of 100,000 SDR (special drawing rights), which is equivalent to Rs75 lakh.

A bench headed by Justice Dalveer Bhandari heard the law suit filed by Abdus Salam, who had lost his son in the crash. 

While a single bench of the Kerala High Court had directed NACL to pay Rs75 lakh to each of the victims, a larger bench later quashed this order on August 25 last year.