Madras High Court cancels govt jobs granted to Karur stampede victims’ families

New Delhi: The Madras High Court has quashed the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to grant government jobs to 31 family members of those who died in the Karur stampede, holding that the appointments violated constitutional provisions governing equality and public employment.

The jobs, which were at the TNPSC Group IV level, had been offered by Chief Minister Joseph Vijay as part of the government’s rehabilitation measures for families affected by the tragedy. Appointment orders had been distributed to the beneficiaries a few days earlier.

The decision was challenged before the High Court by members of the Naam Tamilar Katchi and other petitioners, who argued that the appointments bypassed the normal recruitment process and were inconsistent with constitutional principles.

Allowing the petitions, the High Court ruled that the government’s action violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, which guarantee equality before the law and equal opportunity in public employment.

During the hearing, the court questioned whether similar government jobs would also have to be provided to the families of people killed in road accidents involving government buses or in other tragic incidents across the state.

The bench observed that Tamil Nadu witnesses various accidents and disasters every year, and extending government employment in one case could create a precedent leading to similar demands in numerous other cases.

The court also noted that many qualified candidates continue to wait for government employment through established recruitment procedures, and giving preference to one group outside that process would be unfair to other eligible applicants.

While setting aside the appointment orders, the High Court suggested that the government could instead assist the affected families through skill development programmes, rehabilitation initiatives, and other welfare measures rather than direct government employment.

The court subsequently cancelled all 31 appointment orders issued to the families of the Karur stampede victims.

The Karur stampede occurred on September 27 last year during a massive political rally organised by the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) led by Joseph Vijay. The gathering drew far larger crowds than anticipated, overwhelming crowd management arrangements and resulting in a stampede that claimed 41 lives and left several others injured.

Following the tragedy, the state government had announced compensation and rehabilitation measures, including government jobs for eligible family members of the victims. With the High Court’s latest ruling, those appointments have now been annulled.