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The Supreme Court has agreed to investigate whether the inquiry into the June 12 Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, which killed 260 people (including 19 on the ground), is being conducted fairly, impartially, and promptly. A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and NK Singh issued notices to the Union Civil Aviation Ministry, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau of India (AAIB), and the Director General Of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the NGO Safety Matters Foundation, which works on aviation safety.

The plea expressed concern that the AAIB’s preliminary report selectively released information, arguably creating a public narrative prematurely blaming pilot error while withholding evidence possibly pointing to a manufacturing defect in the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. The petitioner also questioned the impartiality of the probe, highlighting that three of the five member investigating team are DGCA officers—an entity potentially under scrutiny—thus posing a conflict of interest. Further, the NGO alleged that the testimony of the sole survivor was not adequately considered and said the pace and public communication by AAIB risked undermining both public confidence and passenger safety.

While the petition pressed for full disclosure of all investigative documents and sought the appointment of an independent probe supervised by the Supreme Court, the Bench hesitated to order blanket public access, noting the harm that can result from prematurely singling out individual culpability—such as that of a pilot—before all facts are fully assessed.

The Supreme Court limited the present notice to querying whether a genuinely independent, fair, and expeditious investigation is underway. It will next consider responses from the government agencies and decide if further directions are warranted to safeguard the investigation’s integrity or public accountability.