Madras High Court Cancels Government Jobs for Karur Stampede Victims' Families

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday struck down government orders that had granted state jobs to the families of 41 people killed in a stampede at a Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam rally in Karur last September, ruling that the appointments violated constitutional guarantees of equality and equal opportunity in public employment (The Hindu).

A Division Bench of Justices C.V. Karthikeyan and R. Sakthivel allowed a batch of public interest litigation petitions challenging the decision by the Chief Minister Vijay-led government. The court held that the orders were contrary to Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, emphasising that executive compassion cannot override constitutional safeguards (Indian Express).

The judgment came less than three weeks after the same Bench had permitted the government to distribute appointment orders at an event in Karur, but only on a temporary basis subject to judicial review. At that time, the judges had described judicial interference in a policy decision as “extremely narrow,” while insisting the appointments would remain provisional until the legal challenge was decided and before the recipients drew their first salary (Indian Express).

In its final ruling, the court rejected the state’s argument that the jobs were a legitimate exercise of executive power under Article 162. “If executive action were to be left unfettered and given free hand, chaos will reign,” the Bench observed, adding that any exercise of executive authority must remain within constitutional limits (The Hindu).

The judges noted that compassionate appointments are already governed by established rules and waiting lists across government departments for families of employees who die in service. Extending the benefit outside that framework, the court said, would unfairly overlook those already awaiting consideration under existing schemes. “There are many who wait seeking employment,” the Bench observed, holding that public jobs “are not to be thrown away by the state” but must be earned through the constitutional framework governing recruitment (Indian Express).

The court warned that permitting such appointments would inevitably open the door to similar demands following other tragedies, including industrial accidents, fireworks explosions, and motor accidents where victims had received ex gratia compensation but not government employment (Indian Express). “The grant of such compassionate employment to those affected in this incident would only open the floodgates for others,” the judges said, referring specifically to fireworks accidents and road transport accidents due to negligence (The Hindu).

Instead of offering public jobs, the court suggested the government could have invested in technical education, entrepreneurship, and skill development for the affected families. “The government would be creating leaders, entrepreneurs, self-sufficient individuals,” the Bench observed, adding that the State could bear the cost of such professional training (Indian Express).

The stampede occurred in September 2025 during a TVK roadshow addressed by Vijay, who is also the party president (The Hindu). The litigation was initiated by Madurai lawyer Theeran Thirumurugan, among others, challenging the government’s decision to bypass standard recruitment procedures (Indian Express).