HC rules captain’s family entitled to compensation in Air India Express crash | mumbai news

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday heard that the family of the Serbian captain of the Air India Express flight that crashed after landing at Mangalore airport in May 2010, killing 152 passengers and all six crew members, was entitled to compensation of approximately $4.11 crores.

A single bench of justice Sharmila Deshmukh passed the order following an appeal filed by Air India Charters Ltd, challenging the labor commissioner’s October 2013 order, granting compensation to the family of the captain, Zlatko Glusica, who also died in the accident.

Air India Express Flight 812 from Dubai to Mangalore crashed on landing at Mangalore on May 22, 2010. Captain Glusica reportedly continued an unstabilized approach despite three calls from the first officer to initiate a “return to air,” which resulted in The plane skidded off the runway and fell down a hillside, killing 152 of the 160 passengers on board and all six crew members.

More than two years after the incident, the plane deposited a quantity of $3.32 crore, as contemplated in the Employees Compensation Act, 1923, with the labor commissioner. The latter accepted the claim of Glusica’s relatives that the compensation should be calculated by taking the captain’s salary of $11,000 per month along with a 50% fine for not depositing the compensation amount within the month following the incident, and the 12 % legal interest on the amount awarded as compensation.

Air India Express contested the claim, maintaining that the captain was employed by the airline through Sigmar Aviation and that the airline paid $11,000 per month of his salary to the labor supplier, but his actual salary was $9,170 per month.

In addition, the airline also opposed the imposition of a maximum 50% fine provided by law on the employer for depositing compensation beyond the stipulated period of one month after the incident. The accident took place in May 2010, but the airline did not deposit the amount with the labor commissioner until September 2012.

Justice Deshmukh also accepted the airline’s argument that the two-year delay was adequately explained as the airline was not aware of the actual salary drawn by the Sigmar Aviation captain and even the provisional compensation of $The 10 lakh each, which was paid to other victims of the accident, could not be paid to the captain’s family as the airline did not know the whereabouts of the deceased captain’s dependents.

The family would now move $4.11 crore, calculated on a salary of $9,170 per month, along with 12% interest from the date of incident to the date of deposit of compensation by the airline with the labor commissioner.