Supreme Court Says 'Something Wrong' With Madras HC After Report in Kurur Stampede Case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday (December 12) took a dim view of the Madras high court in connection with the Karur stampede case, saying there was “something wrong” with the high court, LiveLaw reported.

The top court’s remark came after perusing a report sent by the registrar general of the Madras 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.

The stampede occurred in Tamil Nadu’s Karur district on September 27 during a rally by actor Vijay’s political party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), in which 41 people had died.

During the hearing of petitions seeking an independent investigation into the stampede, the Supreme Court had raised questions about the manner in which the Madras high court had intervened in the matter, as per the report.

The top court had questioned how the principal bench of the Chennai-based high court could have directed the formation of a special investigation team (SIT) comprising only state police officers, when Karur fell within the jurisdiction of the Madurai bench. 

It had also questioned how, when the petition was only seeking the formulation of an SOP for political rallies, the direction for an SIT could have been passed in that writ petition. The top court had ordered the investigation to be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation, and sought a report from the registrar general of the high court explaining how the Chennai bench dealt with the situation.

Going through the registrar general’s explanation on Friday, the top court bench commented: “Something wrong [is] going [on] in the high court. This is not the right thing that is happening in HC… Registrar General has sent a report."

Senior advocate P. Wilson, appearing for the state of Tamil Nadu, submitted, “In our high court, whatever is incidental to the issue coming before the court, they pass an order.” 

Justice Maheshwari responded, “If some practice is wrong…”

The bench also turned down an oral request to modify a part of its October 13 order, which had directed that the CBI probe be supervised by a three-member committee headed by former Supreme Court judge, Justice Ajay Rastogi, who was asked to pick two senior IPS officers from the Tamil Nadu cadre who are not ‘natives’ of the state.

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