Knowingly or unknowingly, the C Joseph Vijay-led TVK government has literally opened Pandora’s box by offering jobs to the family members of 31 out of 41 victims who died during the September 27, 2025, political rally organised by his party. This decision has now prompted the PMK and others to demand that such gestures be extended to other victims.
Soon after the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court allowed the TVK government to issue appointment orders to family members of the Karur stampede victims, the orders were issued on July 10 at a function held at the Collectorate. It was CM Vijay’s first visit to Karur after the September 27 incident. The court clarified that the appointments would remain temporary and subject to judicial review.
The judges said, “It would be extremely narrow for the court to intervene in a policy decision of the state government.” It allowed the event to be held on the condition that the appointments would be only on a temporary basis, subject to judicial review.
Earlier in the day, a Division Bench of Justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel heard a batch of PILs filed by G Thirumurugan and M Seeni Ahmed, seeking to restrain the TVK government from issuing the appointment letters.
Counsel for the petitioners said that extending compassionate appointment letters to the victims’ families violated rules that apply only to the legal heirs of government servants who die during service, on certain grounds.
The state government justified its decision by citing earlier incidents where jobs were given. Citing a precedent, the counsel argued that jobs were granted to the families of 13 people killed in police firing during the anti-Sterlite protests in Thoothukudi on May 22, 2018.
The court said that the Sterlite case could be distinguished because the deaths were attributed to alleged excesses by the state. Even so, the judges said the court should be slow to interfere in a policy decision of the government.
The judges said they would hear the main petition before the appointees received their first salary. It directed the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) to submit guidelines on compassionate appointments and whether they apply to the Karur case. The court posted the matter for further hearing on July 21.
The petitioners earlier said, “Proceedings are pending before the Supreme Court.” The counsel said there were no publicly disclosed statutory provisions, Government Orders, or uniform policy explaining the basis, criteria, and legal framework under which such government appointments were proposed to be made. In the absence of such a policy, he said, such benefits only in respect of a particular incident would result in unequal treatment among similarly placed citizens.
Thirumurugan said, “Deferring the permanent employment decision until the judicial process attains finality would not prejudice the victims’ families but would only ensure compliance with constitutional principles and the rule of law.”
BJP functionary Vanathi Srinivasan has demanded jobs for 58 family members of the Coimbatore bomb blast victims.
PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss, while hailing the compassionate jobs given to the family members of the Karur stampede victims, urged the TVK government to extend the same facility to the families of 25 Vanniyars who died during the agitation for reservation for their caste.
In 1992, the death toll reached at least 48, with over 60 injured, when devotees were crushed during a holy bathing ritual. The state government under then-Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa provided financial assistance rather than state employment.
Following the 2004 Kumbakonam school fire tragedy, the Tamil Nadu government provided monetary compensation of Rs 5 lakh to each of the bereaved families through the Justice K Venkataraman Commission of Inquiry. A blanket government job scheme for all the victims’ families was not implemented, but the government actively supported victims and survivors in the years that followed.
In another stampede, 42 people were killed while seeking relief materials in KK Nagar during the severe floods in December 2005. A crowd of over 1,000 people had gathered in front of the Arignar Anna Government Higher Secondary School to collect a relief package. When a sudden, heavy downpour started in the early morning, the gates were opened. People rushed forward in the dark, leading to a tragic crush in which dozens were trampled. In the Vyasarpadi stampede, six persons were killed while trying to get relief material.
In both cases, the government announced financial compensation of ₹1 lakh to the families of the deceased and ₹15,000 to the injured, but no compassionate job offers were made.
Now, there have been voices demanding jobs for these families on the lines of the Karur stampede case. Will the TVK government give jobs to them as well? Or will it wait for the final verdict of the court?
Critics point out, “The Tamil Nadu state government under the AIADMK provided a government job to Percis, the daughter of P Jayaraj and sister of J Bennix. She was appointed as a Junior Assistant in the Revenue Department in Thoothukudi on compassionate grounds. The father and son died during alleged police torture in 2020. It also gave financial compensation of Rs 20 lakh to the kin of the deceased. The DMK and others, too, gave lakhs to the family.”
They recalled, “Two-year-old Sujith Wilson fell into an abandoned borewell in October 2019 near Trichy, Tamil Nadu. His family did not close the borewell. The AIADMK government provided his family with a government job and a financial compensation package of Rs 1 crore. It was the fault of his family for not covering the abandoned borewell. Why should the government offer a government job and Rs 1 crore from the government, AIADMK and other political parties because he was from the Christian religion?”
The decision may also lead to demands from families of those on the government employment waiting list, heirs of government employees who die in harness, and others.
The BJP Tamil Nadu and Left parties have already opposed the TVK government’s decision, saying, “They are not martyrs, freedom fighters or war heroes. Extending jobs to them would create a bad precedent. Then all political parties may start implementing the same policy when they are in power. In Karur, 41 people died, and it was for the TVK party to give them jobs or help them set up employment-generating units. It had already given compensation to the families.”
