New Delhi: The Tamil Nadu government has approached the Supreme Court challenging the Madras High Court’s order setting aside its decision to grant compassionate appointments to the families of those who died in the September 2025 Karur stampede.
The state government has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the judgment delivered by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, which held that the grant of compassionate appointments to the families of the stampede victims was unconstitutional.
In its July 27 judgment, a Division Bench of Justice C.V. Karthikeyan and Justice R. Sakthivel ruled that compassionate appointments cannot be extended through executive discretion in a manner that bypasses the constitutional guarantees of equality and equal opportunity in public employment.
The Madras High Court observed that compassionate appointments are intended to provide immediate financial relief to the family of a government employee who dies in harness and cannot be treated as a general rehabilitation measure following a public tragedy.
Holding that the state government had exceeded the limits of its executive authority under Article 162 of the Constitution, the Justice Karthikeyan-led Bench said executive power must always remain subject to the guarantees contained in Articles 14 and 16.
It further observed that extending compassionate appointments to the families of stampede victims would unfairly place them ahead of thousands of eligible applicants already awaiting such appointments under the existing policy.
“Exercise of executive power must be within the constitutional limits. If executive action were to be left unfettered and given free hand, chaos will reign,” the Madras High Court observed.
While acknowledging the tragedy and the state government’s concern for the bereaved families, the High Court said the government was free to provide financial assistance or other relief measures, but public employment could not be granted in violation of constitutional principles governing recruitment.
The judgment came in connection with the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to offer compassionate appointments to the families of those who lost their lives in the September 2025 Karur stampede, a move the Madras High Court held was inconsistent with the settled legal principles governing compassionate appointments.
The matter is now slated to come up before the Supreme Court, which will examine the Tamil Nadu government’s SLP challenging the High Court’s ruling invalidating the compassionate appointments.
(IANS)
