HC calls for records of Alliance Air
flight flying MPs to Patna
The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked Alliance Air and Indian Airlines to place all records relating to the May 12 flight CD 7411 whose route Delhi-Lucknow-Patna-Calcutta
was reportedly changed to accommodate 27 members of Parliament.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice D K Jain said the records must be produced within two weeks. Alliance Air Limited is a subsidiary of the state-owned Indian Airlines.
The order came following a public interest litigation, which alleged that Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Sharad Yadav interfered with the schedule of flight CD 7411. When the plane was taxiing for take off, MP Prabhu Nath Singh, who was on board, rang up Yadav from a mobile phone.
''This was very unusual as all electronic devices are required to be switched off when the plane engine kicks into action,'' said the judges.
The plane soon returned to the parking bay and passengers were told to disembark. Yadav went to the airport and issued an oral order for change of the flight schedule. At 2215 hrs, the plane took off on a changed flight schedule of Delhi-Patna, dropping Lucknow altogether.
The flight flew over Lucknow but made no attempt to land, said the five petitioners associated with the Centre for Civil Society. As per flight schedule, the plane was to leave Delhi at 1740 hrs for Lucknow, reach there at 1830 hrs, leave at 1900 hrs to reach Patna at 1930 hrs.
''The change in flight schedule was done to accommodate the personal interest of Singh and 26 other MPs who wanted the flight to land first at Patna. Yadav issued oral orders to
this effect while the civil aviation secretary and the director general of civil aviation failed to protect public interest.''
It further appears that when one of the flight crew objected to the use of a mobile phone by Singh while the aircraft was taxiing, Singh said, ''Shut up. I am talking to your baap (father),'' the petition said.
The incident discloses the utterly shocking state of affairs in a premier public sector corporation which is the instrument of the state under Article 12 of the Constitution, said the
petitioners who have filed another writ petition raising the fundamental issue of violation of citizens' rights on account of VVIPs breaking traffic illegally by demanding right of
way in the national capital.
''The citizens have a right ensure that taxes paid by them are not frittered away on the whims and fancies of ministers and MPs,'' said senior advocate Parag Tripathi.
Alliance Air officials said the re-routing was carried out due to technical reasons. First, the flight was delayed because of bad weather. Then it took off and had to return because a passenger developed chest pain and needed medical treatment.
When the flight was re-scheduled, it was found that there was no parking space available at Lucknow airport because Sahara Airlines and Jet Airways flights had been delayed. Also, there was some problem about extending watch hours at Patna airport. So it was decided to fly first to Patna.
Tripathi said Yadav's oral orders in such circumstances per se create grave doubt and suspicion that there has been gross and reckless breach of statutory and public duty.
The five petitioners in the case are: J Bhattacharjee, advisor on corporate and finance laws, Shreekant Gupta, reader at the Delhi School of Economics, Murad Ali Beg and Veeresh Malik, both journalists, and Indrani Gupta from the Institute of Economic Growth.
UNI
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