New Delhi, Dec 18 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the Jharkhand government on how could the CID probe a case against BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey and Manoj Tiwari for allegedly forcing the air traffic control for clearance to their chartered flight to take off from Deoghar airport.
A bench comprising Justices A S Oka and Manmohan also reserved its judgement on the appeal of the state government against the Jharkhand High Court’s decision of March 13, 2023, quashing the FIR against the BJP MPs and others.
Before reserving the verdict, the court heard advocate Jayant Mohan, representing the state government, and senior lawyer Maninder Singh for the BJP leaders.
The bench questioned Mohan on how could the Jharkhand CID police investigate when the case was triable under the Aircraft Act.
“How can cognisance be taken under the Aircraft Act… How can the CID probe an offence under Aircraft Act?…” asked Justice Oka.
It was argued there was a separate mechanism provided under the special law to deal with the particular kind of offences concerning aircraft.
The bench previously asked the state to produce judgements to support its contention that investigation could go on without the prior sanction.
The high court had quashed the FIR on the ground that no prior sanction was taken as per the Aircraft (Amendment) Act, 2020.
The FIR was lodged at Kunda police station in Deoghar district in August, 2023.
The case was registered against nine people, including the two MPs, for allegedly forcing ATC personnel to provide clearance to their chartered flight to take off from the Deoghar airport beyond the scheduled time on August 31, 2022.
This was against the security protocol maintained at airports, the FIR said.
Dubey’s counsel had informed the high court the flight on August 31 from Deoghar to Delhi was delayed. However, a flight can take off half-an-hour after sunset as per aviation rules.
On that day the sun set at around 6.03 pm whereas the flight took off at 6.17 pm — well within the accepted norms of flying, he said, and argued the MPs were targeted due to political vendetta and maliciously framed in a false case. PTI SJK AMK
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