Court nod for govt jobs to families of Karur stampede victims. But with conditions

Summary

The Madras High Court on Friday allowed the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)-led Tamil Nadu government to issue government job appointments to the families of those killed in the Karur stampede last year, but ruled that the appointments would remain temporary and subject to the outcome of judicial review. A Division Bench of Justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel of the Madurai Bench said it would be "extremely narrow" for the court to interfere with a policy decision of the government. "It would be extremely narrow for the court to interfere with a policy decision of the government. The state shall thus proceed with the function on the condition that employment would be on a temporary basis, subject to judicial review. We intend to hear the matter by the end of this month, before the prospective appointees receive their first salary," the Bench observed according to a report in Live Law. The petitioner sought directions restraining the state government from issuing or implementing appointment orders until proceedings related to the tragedy pending before the Supreme Court are concluded. He argued that there is no uniform policy for granting permanent government employment to families of victims in such tragedies and contended that offering jobs in one case could violate the constitutional principles of equality and equal opportunity under Articles 14 and 16. The petition further argued that every eligible citizen has a constitutional right to compete for public employment and that, in the absence of a clearly defined policy governing such appointments, the government's decision was arbitrary and unconstitutional. The petitioner also submitted that, since matters relating to the Karur tragedy are pending before the Supreme Court, granting irreversible administrative benefits at this stage could lead to avoidable legal and administrative complications. In response, the state government informed the court that an intervention application filed before the Supreme Court had earlier challenged the proposed appointments but was subsequently withdrawn.