The Supreme Court has raised serious questions on the listing process of Madras High Court in the Karur stampede case. With the Chennai and Madurai benches passing separate orders, the top court said “something is wrong” and sought a response from the high court registrar.
Madras High Court Listing Issue: There is often debate about the justice system of the country, but this time the questions have been raised by the Supreme Court itself. During the hearing of the Karur stampede case, the Supreme Court said that “something is wrong” in the listing and hearing process of the Madras High Court. The Top Court had to make this comment when the report of the High Court Registrar General came before it, in which many procedural confusions and contradictions came to light. This comment of the Supreme Court is not limited to just one case. Is the process of listing of cases, bench allocation and issuing orders in the Madras High Court going on properly or is there any serious negligence happening somewhere? For this reason, the Top Court directly sought a reply from the High Court and has also made the High Court Registrar a party in the case.
Karur stampede case – one incident, two orders…where did the mistake happen?
41 people were killed and more than 60 injured in a stampede during a Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) rally in Karur on September 27. This matter was very sensitive, hence hearings regarding its investigation started in both Madurai and Chennai benches. But this is where the story got complicated:
- Madurai Bench-CBI investigation petition rejected
- Chennai Bench- SIT investigation ordered
- That is, two completely opposite orders on the same incident.
The Supreme Court expressed surprise after seeing this and asked how can two benches of the same High Court give two different orders on the same case? This difference was not just in the orders, but was also raising questions on the process.
Supreme Court’s strict comment “There is something wrong in the High Court”!
During the hearing, Justice JK Maheshwari clearly said, “We feel that something is wrong in the High Court. We have to understand how the process is going on there.” This comment directly questions the transparency of the judicial system. The Supreme Court said it will delve deeper into the listing rules, bench allocation, and the process of passing orders. This matter became more serious when the High Court Registrar General was also made a party in the petition of TVK Party. This is a very rare situation as the Registrar is generally not involved in such cases.
SIT vs CBI: Why did the Supreme Court call TVK case ‘wrongdoing’?
The TVK (Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam) party challenged in the Supreme Court the order of the Madras High Court in which the Chennai bench had directed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigation. The petition was only regarding the guidelines of the road show, but the High Court deviated from it and ordered a SIT investigation. This order conflicted with the earlier order of the Madurai Bench, hence the Supreme Court termed it as “wrongdoing”. It became necessary for the top court of the country to understand whether both the benches were aware of each other’s orders?
Tamil Nadu government also sought relief from the court: What will the commission with a retired judge do?
The state government has said that a single-member committee headed by a retired judge Aruna Jagadishan has been set up. The Supreme Court has banned it. If the committee works, incidents like stampedes can be prevented in future, but the Supreme Court said that it first wants to understand what this commission will do? When the debate on SIT and CBI is already going on, what will be its scope? A decision on this will be taken later.
Has the Madras High Court listing now come under scrutiny?
This is the first time that the Supreme Court directly said that the process of listing within the High Court is questionable. This leads to different decisions. This affects the credibility of the judicial system. Now the Registrar General will have to give a detailed report. And this can have a major impact on the process of the entire system.
Is this case bigger than just a stampede?
Yes.