ISLAMABAD - A judicial commission constituted to investigate the Bhoja air crash on April 20, 2012 here on Monday directed the owner of the airline Farooq Bhoja, director general of civil aviation authority (CAA) and families of the deceased persons to appear before the commission on January 13, the next date of hearing.
The Bhoja Air flight B4-213 Karachi to Islamabad crashed on abovementioned date leaving all the 127 passengers dead including six members of the crew.
In July this year, a single bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) comprising Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui had constituted a commission headed by Justice (Retd) Ghulam Rabbani. The commission started its proceedings on Sunday last in the IHC premises.
The commission convened it first meeting on Sunday that was attended by its member technical Air Vice Marshal Faiz Amir and Additional District and Sessions Judge Pervaiz-ul-Qadir Memon who is secretary to the commission.
According to the verdict of the high court issued at the petitions of the bereaved families of the deceased passengers, the commission is mandated to investigate whether issuance of the licence to Bhoja Air was in accordance with the law, whether the airline had the required infrastructure and aircraft and whether or not the cockpit crew was well trained and the flight was technically in a sound condition.
The commission is also to probe whether or not the aircraft used for the flight B4-213 had been grounded by the airline from which Bhoja Air purchased it, its airworthiness, mileage and maintenance record.
The commission is also to inquire about the black box. The IHC single bench had directed the commission to complete investigation into this matter within three months.
The single bench of IHC had formed this commission in response the petitions of the families of seven victims of the incident that had been seeking from the court to hold an independent inquiry.