PESHAWAR, Jan 17: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday directed the defence ministry to expedite legislation for making the Safety and Investigation Board (SIB) of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) an independent and autonomous body.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Irshad Qaiser asked the ministry to ensure that no one from CAA or PIA and even the defence secretary should have any administrative control on SIB.

Also, CAA was told to produce certified transcript of the communication and conversation made by the pilot of the Airblue plane, which crashed in July 2010, with different control towers, including that of Islamabad’s airport and radar staff.

The bench issued the order after observing that the re-investigation report prepared by international aviation experts and submitted to the court was incomplete as the terms of reference formulated by the high court were not answered nor was the script of the communication and conversation by the deceased pilot of the plane with different control towers and radar staff annexed with it.

It was hearing a writ petition of former MNA Marvi Memon and relatives of some passengers of the plane, which crashed on July 28, 2010.

They have prayed the court to order independent inquiry into the crash and also provision of appropriate compensation to the bereaved families.

In Nov last, the bench had ordered that the CAA should explain why the SIB should not be made fully autonomous so that it should not be under control and influence of any bureaucrat and government in accordance with the recommendations of a team of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Senior legal director of CAA Obaidur Rehman Abbasi and defence ministry lawyer Tanveerul Islam informed the court on Tuesday that a summary prepared by the defence ministry had been referred to the prime minister for approval . They added that after approval, rules would be framed by the defence ministry.

The two submitted a copy of the said summary to the bench that states the independence of SIB of CAA and making it as AIC (Accident Investigation Commission) in line with the guidelines of ICAO involves a number of changes not only in the Civil Aviation Rules 1994 but establishment of an organisational set up.

Mr Abbasi said the Airblue plane crash was not outcome of any conspiracy and it was due to the error of the pilot, the fact which was also endorsed by the international experts. He added that CAA was among the top 10 aviation authorities in the world.Mr Abbasi said CAA had not been compromising safety of flights. He added that it had been engaged in litigation with the district coordination officer (now deputy commissioner) of Chitral, who had been building a house within 350 feet of the airstrip, which was in violation of the National Airfield Clearance Policy.

Also, the bench gave time to lawyer for petitioners Omer Farooq Adam to consult their clients whether they want to withdraw their civil suits filed with the Islamabad High Court and continue with the present petition or not.

Abdul Lateef Yousafzai, representing the Airblue management, contended that they had paid compensation to majority of the legal heirs of the deceased passengers and only few were left as they had filed civil suits before the Islamabad High Court. He asked how compensation of Rs five million could be paid to these persons on the order of the PHC when they had started fresh round of litigation in Islamabad.