Court directions on Karur relief jobs
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday said there is no prohibition on issuing job orders to the families of those who died in the Karur crowd crush. However, the court indicated that such appointments should be made only on a temporary basis.
PIL challenges government announcement
The state government had announced that 32 members from the victims’ families would be given government jobs, drawing criticism and objections. A public interest litigation was filed by Thirumurugan and Seeni Ahmed, represented by advocate Mohamed Rasheed, opposing the move.
Hearing before the bench
The matter came up before a division bench of Justices Karthikeyan and Sakthivel, as the Chief Minister Vijay was scheduled to hand over appointment orders at an event in Karur later in the day. The petitioners argued that proper rules were not followed, and cited instances where government jobs were not provided to families of those who died in the Thoothukudi firing and the Dharmapuri bus-burning incident.
Next hearing and TNPSC to be added
After hearing both sides, the judges said the event could be held at 3 pm, but clarified that the appointment order would be temporary. The court said the matter would be heard on July 21, before the appointees receive their first month’s salary.
The bench also directed that the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) be impleaded as a respondent in the case challenging the appointments.
