Air crash victims’ families association formed to help kin

DHNS

Mangalore: 15 July 2010: To protect the interests of the family members of Mangalore air crash victims and to save them from a possible exploitation by various agencies, Mangalore Air Crash Victims’ Families Association has been formed. Addressing a press meet here on Wednesday, Association President Mohammed Beary said the Association will help the families of Mangalore air crash victims to receive their remaining promised compensation amount from Air India at the earliest  and also in simplifying the procedure.

 

The Association will also help the families in getting succession certificate and other attestation/countersign by creating an awareness among the family members. It will also help the kin in getting State Government’s compensation of Rs 2 lakh. It would also lend a helping hand in filling the Air India claim application forms, he informed. The Association was registered under the Society Act on July 8 comprising of 13 persons including 2 lawyers in its executive committee. “So far, people belonging to 135 families of the crash victims have responded to our efforts,” Beary revealed.

‘Income certificate’

Secretary Dr Jayasimha Shetty said that as per the Carriage by Air (Amendment) Act, the maximum amount of compensation to be paid by the Air India and the Insurance company is Rs 76 lakh. This compensation will be paid after looking into the net worth of the victims, his employment, income, dependents, status of the family and the impact on the family. 

 

“In the compensation claim application given by the M/s Mulla & Mulla and Craigie Blunt & Caroe, the legal experts hired by Air India, there is one clause on attestation of income certificate. Unfortunately, 80 per cent of the victims come from low economic background. Hence, their income would be very less in Gulf countries. Moreover, it would be a tiring effort to get the income certificate as most of the companies do not give income certificates to its employees. Even if they give, they show only the basic salary leaving aside other perks.

 

Therefore, greater efforts need to be put into get their bank statements and income certificates and the right salary details. “There are chances of the calculation of their final compensation based on salary details being messed with, which the Association would want to avoid,” he said.

 

“We will also meet M/s Mulla and Mulla officials soon in Mumbai to sort out the confusion over attesting the income certificates. There was no communication from M/s Mulla and Mulla after paying the interim compensation,” he added. The Air India authorities had promised disbursement of the final compensation within 6 months. However, issues such as interest being added to the principal amount acting as a burden for the Insurance company may surface while paying the compensation. The authorities concerned never gave any information on the compensation to be paid to those who are below 18 years.

‘No foreign lawyer’

Beary said “several foreign lawyers have contacted us and have assured to fight for the case. However, we will fight on our own as per the Carriage by Air (Amendment) Act and will not take the help of foreign advocates. In case of necessity, we will take the help of a Supreme Court judge to fight for our victims.”

Belongings

Dr Shetty said the personal effects of 46 passengers have been identified. The members alleged that belongings like gold were missing from the bag. Moreover, families should be asked to identify the belongings of their beloved. The laptops in the baggage will also give more details on the belongings. About 12 passports have been recovered.
The Air India had assured to provide after taking permission from the customs.