Chennai, July 17:
The Madras High Court has dismissed a public interest litigation challenging the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to provide jobs to the families of victims who died in the Karur crowd crush incident. The court passed this order after the petitioner chose to withdraw the case.
The tragic incident occurred in 2025 in Karur during a public interaction event led by Vijay, where a massive crowd surge resulted in the deaths of 41 people.
The case related to the incident is currently under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Following the incident, the Tamil Nadu government provided financial compensation of ₹10 lakh to the families of the deceased, while an additional ₹20 lakh was reportedly given by Vijay’s political organization.
More recently, Chief Minister Vijay personally handed over government job appointment orders to 31 affected families as part of relief measures.
Opposing this move, advocate N. Prabhakaran filed a PIL arguing that the 2020 government order on compassionate appointments does not include provisions for granting jobs to families of those who died in political gatherings.
The petition also claimed that offering jobs while the investigation is ongoing could interfere with the probe and potentially influence witnesses.
During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel urged the bench, headed by Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arulmurugan, to halt the job appointments until the CBI files its final report.
However, the judges refused to accept this argument, noting that a related case is already pending before the Madurai bench of the High Court, where interim orders have been issued.
Subsequently, as the petitioner decided to withdraw the plea, the court dismissed the case, bringing the proceedings in this matter to a close.