Trainer aircraft crashes in Gujarat's Amreli district, pilot killed
Amreli (Gujarat) (PTI): A trainee pilot was killed when a trainer aircraft belonging to a private aviation academy crashed in a residential area in Gujarat's Amreli district on Tuesday afternoon and caught fire, a police official said.
The plane fell on a tree before crashing into an open plot.
The aircraft crash-landed into a residential area in the Giriya Road area of Amreli town at around 12:30 pm due to unknown reasons, killing the trainee pilot on the spot, said Amreli Superintendent of Police, Sanjay Kharat.
The pilot was flying solo. The aircraft had taken off from the Amreli airport, he added.
After it crashed near Shastri Nagar area, the plane caught fire and engulfed in flames, said Kharat.
"After taking off from the Amreli airport with a male trainee pilot, the trainer aircraft of an aviation academy, which operates from the airport, crashed into a residential area. The trainee pilot, who was flying solo, died in the crash while the aircraft was gutted in flames. No one else was injured in the accident," said Kharat.
He said a Delhi-based aviation academy provides pilot training from the Amreli airport.
The SP said local police have started the process to lodge a case of accidental death and investigation to find out the exact cause of the crash.
Four teams of local fire brigade rushed to Shastrinagar upon learning about the plane crash and resultant fire in the aircraft, said fire officer SC Gadhvi.
"Though the plane crashed into a residential area, no one else was injured because it first fell on a tree and then crashed into an open plot. The fire was eventually brought under control by our teams" he said.
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HC questions Delhi govt over failure to regulate sale of old vehicles, refers to Red Fort blast
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi High Court questioned the city government on Wednesday over its failure to regulate the sale and transfer of used vehicles, while pointing out that in a recent bomb blast near the Red Fort, a second-hand car was used, making the issue more significant.
A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela asked the Delhi government to file a detailed response on the issue of regulating authorised dealers of registered vehicles.
"A car changes four hands but the original owner has not changed. Therefore, what happens? That man (the original owner) goes to the slaughterhouse? What is this? How are you permitting this? You will take a call when two-three more bomb blasts take place?" the bench asked the Delhi government's counsel.
The bomb blast near the iconic Mughal-era monument was carried out using a second-hand car, making the issue even more significant, it said.
The court listed the matter for further hearing in January 2026.
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The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) plea filed by an organisation, Towards Happy Earth Foundation, highlighting the challenges in the implementation of rules 55A to 55H of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, introduced in December 2022 to regulate authorised dealers of registered vehicles.
While the rules were intended to bring accountability to the second-hand vehicle market, the petitioner's counsel argued that they have failed in practice due to regulatory gaps and procedural hurdles.
The plea said there is a major gap in the amended framework, that is, the absence of any statutory mechanism for reporting dealer-to-dealer transfers.
"In reality, most used vehicles pass through multiple dealers before reaching the final buyer, but the rules recognise only the first transfer to the initial authorised dealer.
"As a result, the chain of custody breaks after the first step, defeating the very purpose of accountability," the petition said.
It added that because of these gaps, only a very small percentage of dealers across India have been able to obtain authorised dealer registration and in Delhi, not a single dealer has got it.
Consequently, lakhs of vehicles continue to circulate without any record of who is actually in possession of those, it said.
The plea said only a small fraction of India's estimated 30,000 to 40,000 used-vehicle dealers are registered under the authorised-dealer framework.
The petition also pointed out that the 11-year-old vehicle used in the November 10 bomb blast near the Red Fort was sold several times but was still registered in its original owner's name.
The blast near the Red Fort had claimed 15 lives.
