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The Kerala High Court issued a notice to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airports Authority of India in a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking inquiry headed by a supreme court or high court judge under the provision of the Aircraft (investigations of accident and incidents) Rules 2017 into the Air India Express flight mishap at the Calicut international airport in Kerala that killed 19 passengers in August this year.
The petition by Advocate Yeshwanth Shenoy also sought an inqui(ry into the general functioning of the Calicut airport and the closure of the airport for the time being. On Monday, Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly issued notice to the Ministry for Civil Aviation, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in the matter.
The petition asserted that the AAI and the DGCA had knowledge of the violations in the construction of the airport and that airport officials and the State authorities had been given several prior warnings about the dangers and deficiencies plaguing the airport, especially after the Mangaluru plane crash. However, officials had deliberately ignored them and failed to take any corrective measures.