Madras HC allows Vijay govt to give jobs to kin of Karur victims

In a ruling that came at the nick of time, the Madras High Court on Friday (July 10) turned down an appeal to stay the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to offer government jobs to 32 members from the families of the 41 people killed in the stampede in the TVK rally in Karur last year.

The court, however, clarified that the jobs will be temporary and rest on the final decision in the case.

‘Extremely narrow if court interferes’

The ruling came on the day Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay is visiting Karur, his first since his win in the Assembly elections and since the tragedy last year.

Also read: DMK moves SC to bar CM Vijay, ministers from commenting on Karur stampede

According to Live Law, a bench of Justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel of the Madurai bench permitted the Vijay government to proceed with the public function, slated for 3 pm on Friday, where he will hand over appointment letters to beneficiaries from the families of the deceased.

The justices observed that it would be extremely narrow if the court interferes with a policy decision taken by the state government.

Appointments will be temporary, says court

The court, however, said that the appointments will be temporary in nature and that it would hear the case again by the end of the month.

“The state shall thus proceed with the function on the condition that employment would be on a temporary basis, subject to judicial review, and we intend to hear the matter by the end of this month, before the prospective persons to whom employment is offered, would receive their first salary,” LiveLaw quoted the bench as saying.

Also read: DMK eyes Option B as SC junks plea to restrain Vijay from commenting on Karur stampede

The court also suo motu impleaded the Member Secretary of the Public Service Commission, asking him to file a report on the guidelines that must be followed while offering job on compassionate grounds and examine whether the rules have been followed in the current case.

Why appointments have been challenged?

The court gave the order while hearing a petition filed by NTK leader Theeran Thirumurugan and Manithaneya Jananayaga Katchi member Seeni Ahamed. The petitioners had argued that such recruitment would bypass that same done through the TNPSC and set a bad precedent.

Also read: As Governor friction mounts, will Vijay fight back or seek quiet truce?

They said that while eligible job aspirants have a constitutional right to compete for public employment, there was no uniform policy explaining the criteria and legal framework under which government appointments can be made in case of such tragedies. They argued that in the absence of such guidelines, when the government provides jobs in respect to one incident, it would raise serious issues related to equality and equal opportunity under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.

The petitioners also said that giving jobs to families of victims could influence material witnesses and compromise fairness of the CBI probe which is currently underway into the stampede.