Omkar Gokhale.The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Civil Aviation Ministry to inform about preventive measures and upgradation in systems in place to ensure passenger safety at the Mumbai International Airport..The Court has directed the Union Aviation Ministry and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to file their response in this regard by August 7, when the matter will be heard next. As stated in the order,.“We would expect the Director General of Civil Aviation and the Ministry itself to enlighten us as to what preventive measures, if any, have been taken till date, and whether existing systems have been upgraded to meet such exigencies.”.The High Court’s order follows a July 1 incident when the Mumbai airport’s main runway had to be shut for over two days after a SpiceJet plane flying the passengers into Mumbai overshot the main runaway..A Division Bench of Justices SC Dharmadhikari and G S Patel passed the order while hearing a PIL filed by advocate Yeshwant Shenoy raising concerns about airport safety. Inter alia, the 2017 PIL raises concerns about high-rise buildings around the airport causing threats to take-off and landing of flights..Following the July 1 incident, Shenoy has also raised concerns about safety measures at the Mumbai International Airport..The petitioner highlighted that since the SpiceJet aircraft was stranded for over two days at the end of main runaway, it led to diversions and cancellations of several flights and forced airlines to deploy smaller jets to function on the smaller runway. The petitioner has submitted that such incidents raise questions about safety mechanisms at the airport..The petitioner has called for upgrading the safety mechanisms at the Mumbai Airport. While making his argument, the petitioner also pointed out that it took around 72 hours to remove the SpiceJet Aircraft as the only Disabled Aircraft Retrieval Kit (DARK) required for the recovery operation was in Mangalore to deal with an Air India Express plane, which had also overshot the runway..In response, the Court has now asked the Union Aviation Ministry and the DGCA to inform whether existing safety mechanisms are competent to deal with such mishaps..While passing the order, the Court has also expressed unhappiness about lack of safety systems at the Mumbai Airport during recent incident. The Bench observed,. “It is not a happy moment for those visiting India and particularly, for business and official work to find that in the commercial capital of the country the main runway of the International Airport is shut down like this and no operations could be carried out….… Once we take pride in projecting that this is the busiest airport in the country having a landing and take off every 59 seconds and working to precision, then this does not enhance that reputation in manner.”.[Read the Order].Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, Click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.
Omkar Gokhale.The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Civil Aviation Ministry to inform about preventive measures and upgradation in systems in place to ensure passenger safety at the Mumbai International Airport..The Court has directed the Union Aviation Ministry and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to file their response in this regard by August 7, when the matter will be heard next. As stated in the order,.“We would expect the Director General of Civil Aviation and the Ministry itself to enlighten us as to what preventive measures, if any, have been taken till date, and whether existing systems have been upgraded to meet such exigencies.”.The High Court’s order follows a July 1 incident when the Mumbai airport’s main runway had to be shut for over two days after a SpiceJet plane flying the passengers into Mumbai overshot the main runaway..A Division Bench of Justices SC Dharmadhikari and G S Patel passed the order while hearing a PIL filed by advocate Yeshwant Shenoy raising concerns about airport safety. Inter alia, the 2017 PIL raises concerns about high-rise buildings around the airport causing threats to take-off and landing of flights..Following the July 1 incident, Shenoy has also raised concerns about safety measures at the Mumbai International Airport..The petitioner highlighted that since the SpiceJet aircraft was stranded for over two days at the end of main runaway, it led to diversions and cancellations of several flights and forced airlines to deploy smaller jets to function on the smaller runway. The petitioner has submitted that such incidents raise questions about safety mechanisms at the airport..The petitioner has called for upgrading the safety mechanisms at the Mumbai Airport. While making his argument, the petitioner also pointed out that it took around 72 hours to remove the SpiceJet Aircraft as the only Disabled Aircraft Retrieval Kit (DARK) required for the recovery operation was in Mangalore to deal with an Air India Express plane, which had also overshot the runway..In response, the Court has now asked the Union Aviation Ministry and the DGCA to inform whether existing safety mechanisms are competent to deal with such mishaps..While passing the order, the Court has also expressed unhappiness about lack of safety systems at the Mumbai Airport during recent incident. The Bench observed,. “It is not a happy moment for those visiting India and particularly, for business and official work to find that in the commercial capital of the country the main runway of the International Airport is shut down like this and no operations could be carried out….… Once we take pride in projecting that this is the busiest airport in the country having a landing and take off every 59 seconds and working to precision, then this does not enhance that reputation in manner.”.[Read the Order].Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, Click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.
