Madras HC allows State to give jobs on compassionate basis for Karur stampede victims’ families but...

The Madras High Court on Friday permitted the Tamil Nadu government to distribute appointment orders for jobs given on a compassionate basis to the families of those killed in the Karur stampede, but directed that the employment would remain temporary and subject to further orders [Theeran Thirumurugan Vs Chief Secretary].

A Bench of Justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel said it would examine whether such appointments could be made without a uniform government policy governing employment offered to victims of public tragedies.

The Court also allowed a related government function scheduled for 3 PM on Friday to proceed. However, it clarified that the beneficiaries of the jobs should not receive their first salary before the case is heard again.

“It may be extremely narrow for the Court to intervene in a policy decision. But we would permit the function to proceed further with a condition that the employment would only be on a temporary basis, subject to further review,” the Court said.

The matter will next be heard on July 21.

TVK Chief and incumbent Chief Minister Vijay is scheduled to visit Karur today to meet the victims’ families and distribute government orders relating to the appointments in question before the Court.

In today's order, the Court also directed the State to file a report explaining the guidelines governing the proposed appointments and whether those conditions had been satisfied in the present case.

It observed that public employment must ordinarily be open to all eligible candidates and cannot be denied to anyone without reasonable justification.

The High Court further impleaded the Member Secretary of the Supreme Court-appointed supervisory committee overseeing the CBI investigation in the Karur stampede case, as a respondent in the matter before the Court.

The directions were passed on petitions challenging the government’s decision to offer employment to the families of the 41 persons who died in the September 2025 stampede at a Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) rally in Karur. The tragedy is presently being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

After the TVK came to power following the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections held in April, the State decided to extend jobs to the kin of those who died in the stampede, on a compassionate basis.

The petitions before the High Court, however, argues that compassionate appointments are ordinarily governed by strict rules applicable to the dependants of government employees who die while in service.

The petitioners contended that the government could not extend such appointments to victims of a public tragedy without either following an existing policy or framing uniform guidelines. Selectively offering government jobs, they argued, would violate the guarantees of equality and equal opportunity in public employment under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.

It was also argued that the families had already received ex gratia compensation, and that granting employment while the CBI investigation was pending could influence material witnesses.

The State opposed the petitions. It pointed out that an application raising similar objections had earlier been withdrawn from the Supreme Court with liberty to pursue other remedies.

The government also cited previous instances in which employment had been offered to the families of persons killed in tragedies. It maintained that the decision was a policy measure intended to support families that had lost their earning members.