The Supreme Court expressed strong disapproval of the Madras High Court’s handling of the Karur stampede case, stating “something is going wrong in the HC.” The apex court rejected the Tamil Nadu government’s plea to let its own commission investigate the incident, emphasizing the need for a fair and impartial inquiry. The SC will examine the HC registrar general’s report.
NEW DELHI: Expressing disapproval over the way in which the Karur stampede issue was dealt with by the Madras high court, Supreme Court on Friday observed that “something is going wrong in the HC”. The apex court said it would examine the report filed by the HC’s registrar general. It, however, turned down the Tamil Nadu govt’s plea to allow its commission of inquiry into the cause of the incident in which 41 people died.A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi directed that the HC report be shared with the counsels for the parties and called for their response. SC rejects TN’s plea for state commission to probe stampedeThe apex court had earlier also raised the question of how the HC’s principal bench in Chennai could have directed the formation of an SIT, when Karur fell within the jurisdiction of the Madurai bench.”Something wrong is going in the HC. This is not a right thing that is happening in the HC,” the bench said after going through the registrar general’s report.In Oct, SC had ordered a CBI probe into the Karur stampede, which occurred during a rally of actor-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) on Sept 27, saying that the incident has shaken the national conscience and deserves a fair and impartial investigation. It had set up a three-member supervisory committee headed by former SC judge Ajay Rastogi to monitor the CBI probe and suspended the directions for the appointment of SIT and a one-man enquiry commission.Senior advocates P Wilson and Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the TN govt, submitted that the state’s commission should be allowed to function as it was entrusted the task to find out the reason for the stampede and also to suggest preventive measures. They said that the commission would not interfere with the CBI probe and will confine itself to giving recommendations to prevent such incidents. But the bench rejected the state’s plea and said that “we want everything to be fair and impartial”.
