The Supreme Court on Friday verbally observed that no blame could be placed on the pilot who was among the 275 persons who died in the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12, The Hindu reported.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi clarified that no official report had held the cockpit crew responsible for the accident.

It added that it was prepared to record this position formally, as it agreed to hear a petition filed by 91-year-old Pushkarraj Sabharwal, the father of late Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the pilot-in-command.

On October 10, Pushkarraj Sabharwal and the Federation of Indian Pilots moved the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored judicial inquiry into the crash.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, which was en route to London’s Gatwick airport from Ahmedabad, crashed 33 seconds after taking off.

There were 242 persons aboard the aircraft. One passenger survived with “impact injuries”.

Thirty-four persons were killed on the ground after the aircraft crashed into the hostel building of the BJ Medical College and Hospital in Ahmedabad, according to Air India.

Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan argued that the preliminary findings of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau were “biased and incomplete”, and appeared to suggest pilot error while ignoring possible technical and systemic failures that warranted an independent probe, The Hindu reported.

Responding to the petitioner’s concern that his son...

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