State Police Has No Role In Lodging Complaints For Airport Violations: SC

The accused were allegedly forcing the Deoghar air traffic control to allow their aircraft to take off after sunset in 2022.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court has held the Aircraft Act was "a complete code" to deal with the safety and security of civil aviation and aerodromes whereas the state police could only forward probe material to the authorised officer to decide on lodging a complaint.

The significant verdict, ruling out any significant role of state police in dealing with the airport violations cases, came from a bench comprising Justices A S Oka and Manmohan on an appeal of the Jharkhand government.

The state government challenged the Jharkhand High Court judgement which quashed the FIR against BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey and Manoj Tiwari and others. They were accused of allegedly forcing the Deoghar air traffic control to allow their aircraft to take off after sunset in 2022.

The judgement, authored by Justice Manmohan, and made available on Wednesday said, "The Aircraft Act, 1934 as well as the rules framed thereunder…is a complete Code which deals with safety and security of civil aviation and aerodrome."

It added, “The Aircraft Act also prescribes a special procedure for taking cognisance of any offence punishable under the Aircraft Act, 1934, i.e., the complaint must be made by or with the prior sanction of the Aviation authorities. Section 12B is in the nature of a pre-condition for taking cognizance by a court.”

The bench referred to the relevant provisions of the Act and the rules and said a complaint could be filed by an authorised officer alone under the Aircrafts Act before the court concerned.

“The local police can only forward the material collected by it during the investigation to such authorised officers. It shall be open to the authorised officer to take a decision in accordance with law with regard to filing or non-filing of a complaint,” it said.

The bench said it was settled law that in the exercise of the extraordinary power under Article 226 of the Constitution or the inherent powers under Section 482 of CrPC, it was open to a high court to quash an FIR either to prevent abuse of the process of any court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice.

“Keeping in view the findings, the present appeals are dismissed with liberty to the appellate-state of Jharkhand to forward the material collected by it during investigation to such authorised officer under the Aircraft Act within four weeks, who shall take a decision in accordance with law as to whether a complaint needs to be filed under the Aircraft Act and the rules framed thereunder,” the bench said.

The verdict said there was no evidence that the MPs acted rashly or negligently to endanger lives and hence no offence under Section 336 IPC (endangering human life) was made out against them.

It also held that no offence of Section 447 (criminal trespass) was made out as there was no allegation of forcible entry, intimidation, or annoyance by the lawmakers.

On invocation of Section 448 (house trespass) IPC, the bench ruled that the ATC office, not being a dwelling or place of worship, does not fall under this provision.

The top court, on December 18 last year, reserved its verdict on the appeal of the state government against the Jharkhand High Court judgement.

The case relates to an FIR lodged at Kunda police station in the Deoghar district of Jharkhand against nine people, including Dubey and Tiwari.

They had allegedly forced Deoghar ATC personnel to clear their chartered flight to take off after the scheduled permitted time on August 31, 2022, in violation of security protocol at airports. The flight reportedly departed at 6:17 PM, 14 minutes after sunset.

The top court’s verdict came on a petition by the Jharkhand government challenging a March 13, 2023, high court ruling which quashed the FIR on grounds that no prior sanction was taken from Lok Sabha secretariat as per the Aircraft (Amendment) Act, 2020.