The Delhi High Court on Monday sought the Centre and Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) response to a woman’s plea seeking compensation for the death of her husband and daughter in a helicopter crash on way to Vaishno Devi shrine in 2015.
The crash happened within seconds of take off on November 25, 2015.
Based on the woman’s plea, the court also issued a notice to the company operating the air transport service and the insurance firm with whom the helicopter was insured.
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva asked the DGCA whether its policy with regard to grant of licence to air transport service providers dealt with the issue of providing insurance cover for no-fault liability in case of a crash.
The judge asked the regulator to place its policy before the court on April 26, the next date of hearing.
It asked for the DGCA policy as its lawyer told the court that there was a maximum compensation limit of ₹20 lakh for no-fault liability but no minimum amount.
Cancellation of permit
The woman has sought a compensation of ₹5 crore from Himalayan Heli Services Pvt. Ltd. as well as cancellation of its permit to operate.
In her plea, filed through advocate Arun Khatri, she has also sought damages from the DGCA and Civil Aviation Ministry for allowing the air transport company to fly the helicopter allegedly without mandatory safety and insurance compliance.
The petitioner contended that the chopper service operator tried to lower the amount payable for her husband and daughter’s death to ₹20 lakh and ₹10 lakh respectively from the initial offer of ₹25 lakh each.
