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Rs 1,24,000 ex-gratia for AN-32 crash victims

The Defence Ministry has sanctioned an ex-gratia payment of Rs 1,24,000 to the families of civilian victims, including two children, of the AN-32 aircraft crash at Dwarka in west Delhi in March this year, the Delhi High Court was told today.

In an affidavit supported by documents, the Defence Ministry submitted before a division bench comprising Justice Arun Kumar and Justice D K Jain that it had sanctioned Rs 50,000 to the family of Jyothin Bai and Rs 74,000 for the next of kin of the children killed in the mishap, Krishna and Aklat.

In a letter to the Chief of the Air Staff, desk officer in the Defence Ministry G Srinivasan, however, wrote that the amount should not be paid to the relatives of the deceased until they sign an acknowledgement stating that the amount had been paid by the government as ex-gratia without acceptance of any legal liability in respect of the accident and is the full and final settlement of any possible claim against the government.

The stand was in response to the petition filed by the All India Lawyers' Union seeking a court direction to the government granting adequate compensation to the victims, which should be equal to the amount prescribed for the armed forces personnel who were killed in the crash.

The ministry was of the opinion that the amount of compensation could not be equal for the civilians and the armed forces personnel as the compensation of the latter is guided by their services rules.

Counsel for petitioner Ashok Aggarwal submitted that the amount decided by the ministry was well below the entitlement of the victims and urged the court to direct the government to increase the amount.

The Defence Ministry submitted that there is a policy for payment of compensation to civilian casualties involving the air force. The compensation is decided after taking into account factors like age of the deceased, monthly income, occupation, number of dependents and their age.

The ministry said that compensation for the loss of property was under process and was likely to be paid soon. As for the civilians who were injured in the accident, all of them have already been paid ex-gratia which were in excess of the amount asked by them.

About the allegation of the petitioner that the air route and flight operations were not safe for the residents of Dwarka and nearby localities, the ministry submitted that the Director General of Civil Aviation has found that the operations from and to IGI airport were as per the laid down standards and were quite safe. The air force has already conducted an enquiry into the accident and all steps were being taken to ensure that such accident does not take place in future.

UNI

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