District and sessions court rejects airline appeals, fines carrier for delaying compensation
ISLAMABAD:
An Islamabad court has ordered Pakistani airline Airblue to pay 5.41 billion rupees ($19.5 million) in compensation to victims of a 2010 plane crash, rejecting all appeals filed by the carrier, court officials said.
The ruling was issued by Islamabad’s District and Sessions Court. It dismissed eight appeals submitted by Airblue and imposed a fine of 1 million rupees on each appeal, bringing the total fine to 8 million rupees.
The court said the compensation was payable to families and individuals affected by the crash, which killed several passengers when an Airblue aircraft went down near Islamabad in July 2010.
According to the verdict, the compensation will be paid as follows:
Sumera Naveed Choudhry and two others will receive 143.189 million rupees.
Rashid Zulfiqar and four others will receive 630.94 million rupees.
Muhammad Ilyas will receive 1.101 billion rupees.
Gohar Rehman will receive 507.348 million rupees.
Junaiduz Zaman Hamid will receive 996.048 million rupees.
Muhammad Javed Khan will receive 857.025 million rupees.
Mst. Salima Rajput will receive 572.666 million rupees.
Retired Colonel Shamim Akhtar will receive 606 million rupees.
The ruling stems from a civil claim filed against Airblue over its role in the 2010 crash. Families of the victims had challenged an earlier decision by a civil judge, who awarded partial compensation of up to 10 million rupees per person.
In its decision, the court criticised Airblue for repeatedly filing appeals. It said the airline had wasted judicial time by contesting the compensation awarded to victims.
Airblue’s lawyers had argued against the compensation amounts but failed to convince the court.
Appeals filed by the victims are still pending before the Islamabad High Court. The High Court had earlier transferred jurisdiction of the case back to the District and Sessions Court for a final decision.
