The Supreme Court dismissed a PIL seeking directions on urban infrastructure growth around airports after the Air India AI171 crash near Ahmedabad. A Bench led by CJI Surya Kant said aviation safety and planning issues require policymakers and experts, remarking, “We are not scientists.”
The Supreme Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that sought directions to tackle rapid growth of urban infrastructure around airports following the crash of Air India Flight AI171 near Ahmedabad, which resulted in more than 260 deaths, including resident doctors and medical students.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice V. Mohana refused to entertain the plea, noting that questions of aviation safety and urban planning are matters for policymakers and domain experts.
CJI Surya Kant remarked while dismissing the petition,
“We are not scientists. The policy makers are there for this,”
The petition was filed after the crash on June 12, 2025, involving an Air India Boeing 787 aircraft with registration VT-ANB. As stated in the PIL, the aircraft was operating Flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London’s Gatwick Airport and crashed within moments after take-off at approximately 0809 UTC.
According to the plea, filed through AoR Laxmikant Shukla, the aircraft fell seconds after departing from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport and crashed at a location near B.J. Medical College.
The accident, as per the PIL, led to the deaths of 230 passengers, 10 cabin crew members, and two pilots. The plea also stated that 19 resident doctors and medical students lost their lives because the crash site was within the aircraft’s trajectory and close to the airport.
Describing the incident as one that plunged the country into grief, the petitioner argued that the deaths of medical students and doctors brought renewed attention to the dangers of dense urban development around airports and its implications for public safety. The PIL urged the Court to revisit safety norms governing construction and land use in airport peripheral zones across India, contending that the Ahmedabad crash highlighted the need to examine whether rapid urban expansion around airports is being adequately regulated.
To support the emphasis on public safety, the petition invoked a maxim by Roman philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero: “The safety of the people shall be the highest law.”
It also referred to observations by former Union Pacific Railroad President William M. Jeffers, stating that safety, in its broadest sense, concerns “the happiness, contentment and freedom of mankind”. Further, it cited a statement by former U.S. President Calvin Coolidge that: “nothing is of greater importance than the conservation of human life.”
The petitioner urged the Court to consider the wider consequences of permitting institutional and residential infrastructure to develop near airports, and sought directions to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
Despite these submissions, the Supreme Court declined to examine policy and regulatory design issues, holding that such matters are best addressed by scientific experts and policymakers, and accordingly dismissed the PIL.
Case title: Shakil Sheikh v. Union of India