Sept 22 (Reuters) - India's Supreme Court on Monday

asked the government to respond to a plea seeking an independent

investigation into the Air India plane crash on June 12 that

killed 260 people.

The top court was responding to a public interest

litigation filed by NGO Safety Matters Foundation, marking its

first examination of the probe being carried out by Indian

authorities into the incident.

In a hearing on Monday, lawyers for the NGO questioned the

inclusion of officials from the aviation safety regulator on the

probe panel, saying it created a "conflict of interest"

"The investigation necessarily involves a critical

examination of DGCA's own regulatory actions and possible

lapses," the NGO's plea said.

The Air India-operated Boeing 787 crash killed all but one

of the 242 people on board and 19 others on the ground, after

the plane lost thrust shortly after takeoff from the Ahmedabad

airport.

A preliminary investigation report released earlier by the

Indian government showed pilot confusion in the cockpit shortly

before the crash after the plane's fuel engine switches had

almost simultaneously flipped from run to cutoff just after

takeoff.

The report appeared to exonerate Boeing ( BA ) and engine maker GE

Aerospace (GE.N), but some family groups have criticised

investigators and the press for being too focused on the pilots'

actions.

"Three of the members are the serving officers of the

Directorate General of Civil Aviation (flight safety regulator),

which creates a very serious conflict of interest," the NGO's

lawyer Prashant Bhushan told the judges.

The court said it will review the demand for a "fair,

impartial, and independent, and expeditious" investigation and

it has asked the government to respond.

The case comes just days after a separate case was filed in

the United States by families of four passengers against Boeing ( BA )

and Honeywell, which made the switches.