The Madras High Court on Friday permitted the Tamil Nadu government to distribute appointment orders to the families of those killed in the 2025 Karur stampede, while clarifying that the appointments would remain purely temporary and subject to the final outcome of the pending proceedings.
The Division Bench of Justice CV Karthikeyan and Justice R Sakthivel passed the interim order while hearing a batch of writ petitions challenging the State government’s decision to grant compassionate government employment to the families of the 41 persons who lost their lives in the stampede during a Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) rally in Karur in September 2025.
The Bench observed that it would examine the larger legal issue of whether compassionate appointments could be extended to victims of public tragedies in the absence of a uniform policy framework, statutory scheme or executive guidelines regulating such appointments. The Court noted that although judicial review of policy decisions is ordinarily limited, the legality of the State’s decision required consideration in light of constitutional and administrative law principles.
Accordingly, the Court permitted the government function scheduled for Friday afternoon to proceed and allowed the appointment orders to be distributed. However, it directed that the appointments would remain provisional and subject to further judicial scrutiny. It further restrained the authorities from releasing the beneficiaries’ first salary until the matter is taken up again. The case has been posted for further hearing on July 21.
The High Court also directed the State government to file a detailed report setting out the policy, guidelines and eligibility criteria governing such appointments and to clarify whether those conditions had been complied with in the present case. The Bench emphasised that appointments to public service must ordinarily remain open to all eligible candidates and that public employment cannot be denied except on constitutionally permissible and legally sustainable grounds.
In a significant procedural development, the Court impleaded the Member Secretary of the Supreme Court-appointed supervisory committee monitoring the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Karur stampede as a respondent in the proceedings.
The petitions contend that compassionate appointment is a narrowly carved-out exception to the normal recruitment process and is traditionally restricted to eligible dependants of government employees who die in harness. The petitioners argued that extending such appointments to the families of victims of a public tragedy without an existing statutory framework, executive policy or uniformly applicable guidelines is arbitrary, lacks a legal basis and violates Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, which guarantee equality before law and equal opportunity in matters of public employment.
The petitioners further submitted that the bereaved families had already received ex gratia compensation from the State. They also contended that extending government employment while the CBI investigation into the stampede remains pending could potentially influence material witnesses and adversely affect the fairness and integrity of the ongoing criminal investigation.
Opposing the petitions, the State government submitted that similar objections had earlier been raised before the Supreme Court but were subsequently withdrawn with liberty to pursue other legal remedies. The State further relied on previous instances in which compassionate employment had been extended to the families of persons who died in major public tragedies, contending that the present decision constituted a policy measure intended to provide socio-economic rehabilitation and financial assistance to families that had lost their sole earning members.
The State’s decision followed the formation of the TVK government after the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections held in April. Before the High Court passed its interim order, TVK chief and incumbent Chief Minister Vijay was scheduled to visit Karur to meet the families of the victims and distribute the appointment orders.
The stampede, which claimed 41 lives during a TVK rally in Karur in September 2025, is currently under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation pursuant to directions issued by the Supreme Court.
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