Order to give government jobs to the families of Karur stampede victims cancelled, Madras High Court shocks Vijay government

In a major blow to the Vijay government of Tamil Nadu, the Madras High Court on Monday canceled the decision of giving government jobs to the families of those who lost their lives in the Karur stampede. The court said that this decision violates Article 14 (right to equality) and Article 16 (equal opportunity in government jobs) of the Constitution.

The High Court said in its order that if such appointments are allowed, there will be a flood of similar cases in future and the fairness of the government recruitment process will be affected.

It is noteworthy that in September last year, 41 people had died in the stampede during the TVK rally in Karur. At that time the DMK government was in power in the state. The police had alleged in their investigation that the crowd had exceeded capacity due to Vijay’s late arrival at the venue. Besides, lack of basic facilities like drinking water, food and toilets was also said to be the reason for the accident. However, TVK rejected these allegations and accused police negligence and political conspiracy.

Earlier this month, during his visit to Karur, Chief Minister Vijay had handed over appointment letters of government jobs on compassionate grounds to 32 relatives of the deceased. The government said that this step has been taken with the aim of providing financial assistance and rehabilitation to the affected families.

However, opposition party AIADMK had opposed this decision. Senior party leader R.B. Udayakumar had alleged that the government had given appointments for political reasons, bypassing the regular recruitment process and TNPSC rules. He had said that this would be injustice to lakhs of youth who have been preparing for government jobs for years.

Now after the decision of Madras High Court, the appointment orders issued by Vijay Government have been cancelled. The investigation of the Karur stampede case is already with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating the crowd management, organizing arrangements and other aspects during the rally.