The Supreme Court on Thursday stepped up its scrutiny of the action taken by the Madras High Court after the Karur stampede tragedy, and in sharp statement said that something was amiss in the manner in which the high court conducted its proceedings. The stampede that arose during a political outreach rally organised by actor-turned-politician Vijay, his Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) led to the death of 41 people and has since raised concerns on irregularities in the judicial response.
The observation was done by a bench that included Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi on the basis of a report submitted to the bench by the registrar general of the Madras High Court. This report was commissioned by the Supreme Court in October as it inquired into how the case came to be disposed of by the High Court Bench of Chennai, when Karur comes under the territorial jurisdiction of Madurai Bench. This report was reviewed by the apex court which then ordered to circulate the report to all parties and requested them to submit their responses.
The bench added commenting on the explanation of the registrar general that something is amiss in the high court. It is not a privilege that is being enjoyed that the registrar general has reported it.
The Supreme Court has expressed some grave reservations in the past: why was a special investigation team, (SIT) of Tamil Nadu police officers only, constituted in a petition that simply sought to have guidelines given to political rallies; how come the same day different orders were passed by the Madurai and Chennai Bench on a transfer of investigation to the CBI; how come the question arose at all?
The Tamil Nadu senior advocate P Wilson submitted that the high court tends to make a decision in matters that were incidental to the court. Justice Maheshwari reacted strongly: in a definite sign that the justification did not sit well with the Supreme Court, Maheshwari said: If some practice is wrong.
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