The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Centre and Air India on a plea seeking a CBI or SIT probe into alleged irregularities, including purchase of
aircraft for the national carrier and giving up of profit making routes to private airlines, when Praful Patel was
Civil Aviation Minister. A Bench of Justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad sought response from the government, the national carrier and CBI on a petition filed by an NGO, alleging that various decisions taken during the tenure of Mr. Patel were meant to benefit private airlines and
caused huge losses to Air India. The NGO, in its petition, has referred to several of Patel's decisions, including the massive purchase of 111 aircraft for national airlines costing about 70,000 crore rupees, taking a large number of planes on lease, giving up profit-making routes and timings in favour of private airlines and the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines.
The NGO approached the apex court challenging a Delhi High Court order dismissing its plea into the alleged
irregularities. The High Court had refused to pass any order on the NGO's plea for a probe into Air India's fleet expansion programme and its decision to purchase 111 planes, saying that the Public Accounts Committee, PAC
of Parliament is already looking into it.