Airport violation: SC rejects plea on HC order quashing FIR against BJP MPs

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea of the Jharkhand government against the high court order quashing an FIR against BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey and Manoj Tiwari, who are accused of forcing the air traffic control to allow their aircraft to take off from Deoghar airport after sunset in 2022.

A bench comprising Justices A S Oka and Manmohan, however, granted the state government the liberty to forward the material collected during the probe to the authorised officer under the Aircraft Act within four weeks.

The competent authority of the DGCA shall take a decision in accordance with law as to whether a complaint needs to be filed under the Act, the bench said.

The top court, in December 18, had 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 Deoghar district of Jharkhand against nine people, including Dubey and Tiwari.

They had allegedly forced ATC personnel at Deoghar airport 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 top court's verdict came on a petition by the Jharkhand government challenging a March 13, 2023 high court ruling which had quashed the FIR on grounds that no prior sanction was taken from the Lok Sabha Secretariat as per the Aircraft (Amendment) Act, 2020. Under the law, any FIR against an MP must be approved by the secretariat.