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ISLAMABAD, Dec 23 (APP): The District and Sessions Court of Islamabad on Tuesday dismissed eight appeals filed by a private airline in civil compensation cases linked to a plane crash that occurred in the federal capital in 2010.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 100,000 on the airline for each appeal, amounting to a total penalty of Rs 8 million, and directed the company to pay compensation worth Rs 5.41 billion to the affected families.
The written verdict was issued by the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Dr Rasool Bakhsh. The decision covered appeals filed by both the airline and the victims against an earlier ruling in the civil claims.
According to the judgment, the court ordered the airline to pay Rs143.189 million to Samira Naveed Chaudhry and two other claimants. Rashid Zulfiqar and four others were awarded Rs630.94 million. Muhammad Ilyas was granted Rs1,101.868 million, while Gohar Rehman was awarded Rs507.348 million. The court directed payment of Rs996.048 million to Junaid-ul-Zaman Hamid and Rs857.025 million to Muhammad Javed Khan. Salima Rajput was awarded Rs572.666 million, and retired Colonel Shamim Akhtar was granted Rs606 million as compensation.
The victims had filed appeals against the earlier decision of a civil judge, who had allowed compensation up to a limit of Rs10 million per person. The appellate court set aside that limit while deciding the appeals.
The court also noted that the airline had engaged in repeated litigation, which resulted in loss of judicial time. On this basis, the fines were imposed on the company.
Earlier, the victims’ appeals were heard by the Islamabad High Court. However, the high court later returned the cases to the sessions court, holding that the matters fell within the jurisdiction of the sessions judiciary.