Madras HC says govt jobs for Karur victims are subject to judicial review

CHENNAI : The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday allowed the Tamil Nadu government to issue 32 appointment orders to the families of the Karur TVK party roadshow stampede victims, but held that the appointments would be temporary and subject to judicial review.

The bench of Justice C.V. Karthikeyan and Justice R. Sakthivel of the Madurai Bench observed that it would not be appropriate for the court to interfere with a policy decision of the government. It, therefore, allowed the State to go ahead with the public function to hand over appointment letters to the families of the deceased.

However, the bench said the appointments would be temporary and subject to judicial review. It also said the case would be heard before the end of this month, before the appointees receive their first salary.

The bench also suo motu impleaded the Member Secretary of the Public Service Commission and directed him to file a report on the guidelines for compassionate appointments and whether they were followed in the present case.

The petition filed by Theeran Thirumurugan, a lawyer from Madurai, challenging the decision of the newly formed government, headed by CM Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party, to provide government jobs to the families of 41 persons who lost their lives in the Karur stampede tragedy in September last year.

The petitioner sought directions to the Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary, Secretary (Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department), Secretary (Home Department), Secretary (Revenue and Disaster Management Department), and the District Collector (Karur) to refrain from issuing or implementing any Government appointment order arising from the Karur stampede until the proceedings before the Supreme Court attain finality.

He further contended that the absence of a clear policy and the pendency of the Karur tragedy proceedings before the Supreme Court could lead to irreversible legal and administrative consequences if appointment orders are issued before the matter reaches finality.

During the hearing, the State counsel referred to a precedent where government jobs were provided to the families of those who died in the Thoothukudi police firing.

In response, the court said the two incidents cannot be treated alike, as the Thoothukudi incident involved alleged police excess by the State, whereas the Karur incident cannot be considered a case of police excess by the State.