SC halts Madras HC order cancelling Vijay govt's jobs for Karur stampede victims' kin

A bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice K Vinod Chandran passed the interim order on a petition moved by the state government. The Supreme Court also issued notice to the Tamil Nadu chief secretary and others on the petition challenging the High Court's.

The apex court observed that an unfortunate incident had led the government to offer employment to the victim's families. The government has decided to compensate them.

What Happened

The Supreme Court also questioned the challenge to the state government's decision to provide employment to the victims' families. The court further observed that if the government had decided to provide some succour to the affected families and compensate them with money.

• After the TVK, led by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, came to power following the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections held in April 2026, the state decided to give jobs to the kin of those.

• The tragedy is presently being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

• The petitioners 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.

Key Details

The Supreme Court also asked whether the government should not provide employment to the family of a person who was the sole member of the family and died in the tragedy. The Madras High Court had, on July 27, cancelled Chief Minister.

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

• The High Court said the state could not overlook those claims and give jobs to the families of those killed in the stampede.

• A division bench comprising Justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel had held that it was not appropriate to overlook the needs of several other persons whose family members had died while in government service.

Why It Matters

The High Court also observed that allowing such appointments could open the floodgates for similar demands.

• Last month, the High Court ruled that the appointments could not be sustained since public employment must be made in accordance with Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.

What Reports Say

Coverage of the story so far points to:

• Continued reporting by India Today as more details emerge