'Something Wrong With Madras High Court': Supreme Court After Perusing HC Registrar General's Report In Karur Stampede Case

In the Karur Stampede case, after perusing a report sent by the Registrar General of the Madras High Court, the Supreme Court today remarked that there is "something wrong" with the High Court.

A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi directed that the report be shared with the counsels for the parties and called for their response.

It may be recalled that during the hearing of petitions seeking an independent investigation into the stampede, which occurred in Tamil Nadu on September 27 during a rally by actor Vijay's political party TVK, the Supreme Court had raised questions about the manner in which the Madras High Court intervened in the matter.

Firstly, the Supreme Court had wondered how the principal bench of the High Court at Chennai could have directed the formation of an SIT comprising only State Police officers, when Karur fell within the jurisdiction of the Madurai Bench. Also, noting that the petition filed in the Chennai Bench was only seeking the formulation of an SOP for political rallies, the Court asked how the direction for SIT could have been passed in that writ petition. Therefore, in the interim order passed on October 13 for a CBI investigation, the Court had sought a report from the Registrar General of the High Court explaining how the Chennai Bench dealt with the situation.

Today, after perusing the report of the Registrar General, Justice Maheshwari observed, "Something wrong going in High Court. This is not a right thing that is happening in HC...Registrar General has sent a report."

Senior Advocate P Wilson, for the State, submitted, "In our HC, whatever is incidental to issue coming before court, they pass an order..."

"If some practice is wrong..." Justice Maheshwari commented.

Bench turns down the prayer to modify the judgment

An oral prayer was made before the bench against the use of the word 'native' in para 33 of its judgment ordering CBI probe. Vide the said judgment, to allay the concerns of the parties regarding the impartiality of the investigation, the Court had formed a 3-member Supervisory Committee, headed by former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Ajay Rastogi, to monitor the CBI investigation. Justice Rastogi was asked to choose two senior IPS officers, not below the rank of the Inspector General of Police, who may be from the Tamil Nadu cadre, but not natives of Tamil Nadu, as the other members of the Committee.

Today, the bench refused to modify its judgment. It also issued notice on a fresh petition filed by one KK Ramesh.

Senior Advocate P Wilson (for the State) made a mention with regard to the stay granted to the State-appointed Commission. Wilson assured that the State Commission will not interfere with the CBI probe and will confine itself to giving recommendations to prevent such incidents. However, the bench did not issue notice or vacate its interim order.

What has happened so far?

On October 13, the Court ordered an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) into the Karur stampede, which took place on September 27, during the rally of actor Vijay's political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam(TVK), claiming 41 lives. It prima facie observed that the political undertones of the case, as well as the comments made by the top officials of the State Police to the media, may create doubt in the minds of the citizenry on impartiality and fair investigation.

The bench granted eight weeks to the State of Tamil Nadu to file its counter-affidavit pursuant to which the Government recently filed the affidavit attributing the tragedy to a series of “reckless, negligent and uncoordinated actions” by the organisers and cadres of the TVK party, led by actor-politician Vijay. It also sought to vacate the interim order directing for the CBI investigation.

This interim order was passed by in the petition filed by TVK and other parties.

Background

The petition filed by TVK challenged the October 3 order of the Madras High Court(Chennai Bench) that constituted an SIT to investigate the Karur stampede. The party's petition, filed through its General Secretary Aadhav Arjuna, objected to the High Court forming the SIT only with the officers of the Tamil Nadu Police. They also took exception to the adverse remarks made by the High Court against TVK and Vijay. The party sought an independent investigation under the monitoring of a former Supreme Court judge.

Other petitions challenged the October 3 order issued by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, which refused to transfer the investigation to the CBI. During the hearing, the bench orally questioned the manner in which the High Court had passed the order. It noted that the SIT investigation was ordered in a petition seeking a Standard Operating Protocol for political rallies. The bench also asked how the principal bench in Chennai could pass orders when Karur fell within the jurisdiction of the Madurai bench.

The bench also questioned why the TVK party was granted permission to hold the rally when another party, AIADMK, was denied permission in the same place on the grounds that the passage is too narrow. It also raised concerns about how the postmortem of 30-40 bodies was done at midnight, and the bodies were cremated at 4 a.m.