Khatiwada, 55, filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court on Monday, demanding a high-level judicial investigation, alleging that the air crash was a ”mass murder.”
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Prakash Khatiwada of Saptari, who lost three family members in the Saurya Airlines plane crash 18 months ago, has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court. Alleging that the plane crash was a 'mass murder', the 55-year-old Khatiwada filed the writ petition in the Supreme Court on Monday, demanding a high-level judicial investigation.
A CRJ-200 aircraft of Saurya Airlines crashed shortly after taking off from Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, on July 21, killing 18 people, including Captain Manish Ratna Shakya.
Four-year-old Adhiraj Sharma, Prija Khatiwada, and Manuraj Sharma died on the spot in the accident. After the death of most of Saurya's responsible 'post-holders' in this incident, Saurya Airlines had not been in regular flights for 18 months. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal had banned all types of flight operations immediately after the accident, as Saurya was a highly skilled technician.
The authority lifted the suspension imposed on Saurya, which has two CRJ aircraft with a capacity of 50 seats, on Magh 2082 and renewed its Air Operator Certificate (AOC). Khatiwada, who is pursuing a judicial investigation into the accident, has reached the Supreme Court. The authority had granted commercial flight permission to Saurya on Magh 20.
Khatiwada, who has been challenging the government and the investigation committee since the beginning, demanding a high-level judicial investigation, alleging that the Saurya Airlines crash was a 'mass murder', told Kantipur that he had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court on Monday, seeking appropriate orders including injunction and a writ of mandamus.
14 bodies and individuals, including the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Tourism and the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, have been made defendants in this case. The writ alleges that the Saurya Airlines crash was a 'mass murder' due to serious negligence on the part of Saurya Airlines and the regulatory body, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.
The petitioner has demanded an 'injunction' to overturn the findings of the current investigation committee and a 'mandamus' to force the government to form a high-level judicial commission. Claiming that the flight was an illegal one to Pokhara for the repair of the aircraft at that time, Khatiwada alleged that although the flight was a 'ferry flight' for the repair, it was unauthorizedly carried out by non-technical persons, including his four-year-old grandson, who was presented as an employee of the airline in the flight manifest by submitting false details.
Saurya Airlines has also been accused of manipulating the details of employees and cargo to secure its commercial interests and insurance money. The writ petition states that there are shortcomings in the regulations of the regulatory body, the Civil Aviation Authority has not fulfilled its duties by allowing the grounded aircraft to fly for 34 days without proper safety checks and supervision of the cargo load.
Petitioner Khatiwada also stated that the then Tourism Minister Badri Pandey presented his daughter Prija Khatiwada, who has been working on a contract at the Ministry of Energy for 12 years, as an employee of Saurya Airlines in the House of Representatives meeting immediately after the incident. "This clearly shows that Saurya Airlines has operated the flight in a wrong manner and presented my daughter as an employee to avoid possible action and collect the insurance money," Khatiwada said in the writ. "So far, Saurya Airlines Chairman Deepak Pokharel has said that he secured the insurance money by making her an employee of the company. After her death, she was created as an employee of Saurya Airlines by misusing her citizenship and photo and preparing fake documents with forged signatures. Similarly, documents in which the airline made my four-year-old grandson an employee have been found." Saurya Airlines has submitted the forged documents to the court along with the application.
The petitioner has also alleged that the inquiry commission formed after the accident under the coordination of the then Director General Ratish Chandra Lal Suman was also against the law. He has claimed that the appointment of Mukesh Dangol, an ATC officer who did not have 15 years of work experience at that time, as member secretary was against the law.
‘The investigation commission has been formed to cover up the weaknesses of the management of Sourya Airlines and to get immunity from crime and the report has been prepared in a planned manner.’ The writ reads, ‘The Accident Investigation Commission has been formed by appointing members who do not meet the qualifications in violation of the law,’ ‘There is a mandatory legal provision in the Civil Aviation Regulations that a person with at least 15 years of work experience can be designated or appointed as a member of the commission.’
Khatiwada, who was drawn to the attention of the then Prime Minister and MPs, was summoned for discussion by the International Relations and Tourism Committee of the Parliament on Bhadra 4, 2082, in disagreement with the investigation commission formed after this accident.’ After the discussion, the committee directed the government to form a judicial commission. After the Gen-G movement that took place on the 19th day of this meeting, both the government and the parliament were dissolved.
‘After that, I had urged the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and the ministers of that government and all the related bodies for a judicial inquiry,’ 55-year-old Khatiwada said in the writ, ‘I have been requesting the Prime Minister and all the ministers of the current government in writing for a judicial inquiry commission as per the directions of the parliamentary committee. But after no initiative from any body, I was forced to come to the esteemed Supreme Court with this petition.’
Since the 70 years since flights began in Nepal, there have been 109 air accidents in which at least 950 people have died. Data on air accidents in Nepal show that there are an average of two air accidents per year. Khatiwada says that a judicial inquiry is necessary because the 99 percent of air travel in the world is unsafe in Nepal due to deliberate policy and technical negligence by airline companies and regulatory bodies.
In the wake of the Saurya Airlines accident, where dozens of flights, including the insurance dispute of the deceased, are still pending, Khatiwada has demanded that the decision to lift the suspension imposed on all airlines by the coordinator of the committee studying the overall civil aviation situation in Nepal and current Tourism Minister Anil Sinha and the 'acting' Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal Devchandra Lal Karna be overturned by the order of the court.
'Until the final decision of this petition is made, I may issue an interim order in the name of the relevant opponents not to implement the said letter and continue the suspension of the airline,' the writ reads. Khatiwada has demanded that an inquiry be conducted under the leadership of a retired Supreme Court judge to determine the criminal liability in this dispute, not just the judicial accountability and technical facts.
Khatiwada, who is also a journalist, has made demands such as filing a case against the airline management and officials of the authority for negligence that led to the deaths of 18 people, ending the dual role of the Civil Aviation Authority as a 'service provider' and 'regulator' (conflict of interest) and making structural reforms to improve civil aviation, and making the Saurya Airlines accident, in which only Captain Mani Ratna Shakya survived, a 'culture of impunity' prevalent in Nepal's aviation sector, a 'culture of impunity' that should be ended now and air transport should be made safer.
