The Air India Flight 171 crashed, killing 12 crew members and 229 passengers on June 12, last year.
| Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 28, 2026) agreed to give a short date of hearing in petitions seeking an independent, judicially-monitored probe into the reasons behind the Air India Flight 171 crash at the Ahmedabad Airport, killing 12 crew members and 229 passengers on June 12, last year.
The case was listed before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya on January 28. The batch of petitions, includes one filed by 91-year-old Pushkar Raj Sabharwal, the father of Commander Sumeet Sabharwal, one of the pilots on the ill-fated aircraft, the Federation of Indian Pilots, and an NGO, Safety Matters Foundation.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, made an oral mentioning that the Bench may not be able to hear the case on Thursday (January 29, 2026) as petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise were scheduled later in the day.
Mr. Bhushan submitted that there has been no responses from the Union government or the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on the petitions filed in the Supreme Court.
“The pilots are saying the 787s are totally unsafe. That there is an electronic problem. A Court of Inquiry has to be appointed,” Mr. Bhushan submitted.
The petitioners have argued previously that they had not moved the apex court to “apportion blame” but to unearth “what” caused the accident and to safeguard the future against such tragedies. The court had also made it clear that the purpose of an AAIB inquiry under Section 4C of the Aircraft Act 1934 and the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2017 was not to assign blame.
Mr. Sabharwal had approached the court, shocked by the “nasty” reportage about his son and rumours of pilot error. He had argued that the AAIB investigation was flawed.
His petition had followed a preliminary report, published in the media, containing what was believed to be a brief verbal exchange between the two pilots, caught on the flight’s black box. In this, one of them had reportedly asked about the fuel switch being cut off, while the other had replied he had not switched it off. The reason for the crash was said to be the sudden stoppage of the fuel supply to both the engines.
The Union government, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, had submitted that the investigation was in compliance with international conventions and mandatory steps required by the International Civil Aviation Organisation to be taken in cases of air accidents. He said there was a statutory regime under Section 4C in place. The government cannot turn its back on the law. Besides, he said, foreign nationals were killed in the accident, which made it all the pertinent that India followed international standards.
Published – January 28, 2026 11:50 am IST
