4 succeed in striking out suit by family of MH370 passenger

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here yesterday granted an application by the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) and three others to strike out a suit filed by the family members of a Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 passenger.

Judicial commissioner Azizul Azmi Adnan struck out the suit made against DCA, the Immigration Department, former Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) chief General Tan Sri Rodzali Daud and RMAF, after finding that the plaintiffs had no cause of action against the defendants.

However, the court rejected an application to strike out the suit filed by five other defendants — Malaysia Airlines System Bhd (MAS), Malaysia Airlines Bhd, DCA director-general Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, former Immigration director-general Datuk Aloyah Mamat and the Malaysian government. Senior federal counsel Alice Loke said the court had set Sept 8 for case management.

The negligence suit was filed on Feb 25 by K. Sri Devi, 32, the widow of S. Puspanathan, 33, their two sons, aged 2 and 4, and the deceased’s parents G. Subramaniam and wife, A. Amirathan, both 62.

The plaintiffs claimed that at 1.21am, MH370 disappeared from DCA’s radar, but remained on RMAF’s radar, which also detected it travelling to several states, including Kelantan, Perak and Penang, but the plaintiffs claimed that MAS failed to detect it.

They also claimed that the DCA director-general had failed to provide safe, efficient and organised regulations for air traffic control service, flight information and warning service, and failed to track down and search for the aircraft on military radar after they lost contact.

As such, the plaintiffs claimed compensation totalling RM32 million for the loss of support and loss of contributions to the Employee Provident Fund account of the deceased.

They also claimed aggravated and exemplary damages, costs, and other relief deemed fit by the court.

On Jan 29 last year, Azharuddin announced the loss of MH370 as an accident under international aviation regulations and all 239 passengers and crew were deemed to have lost their lives. Bernama