MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently directed the Theni collector and District Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare officer to provide a government job to a Scheduled Caste woman whose brother was murdered by dominant caste members in 2020.
Petitioner Kalimuthu’s elder son Karthikeyan was murdered by forward community people on January 1, 2020. Jayamangalam police had registered a case under various sections of the IPC and SC/ST Act. During the trial, the sessions judge had directed the Theni collector to pay a compensation of `4.12 lakh to Kalimuthu under the SC/ST Act.
Citing serial number 46 (i) of Annexure-I read with Rule 12(4) of the SC/ST Act, 2016, which mandates granting a government job to any one member of the victim’s family, Kalimuthu filed a petition in the HC seeking a government job for his daughter Pavithra.
When the petition was heard by Justice L Victoria Gowri recently, the government counsel claimed that since the compensation has already been paid to the petitioner, the question of providing employment to his daughter will not arise.
But the judge rejected this by pointing out that such an argument is not sustainable as the petitioner is relying upon the provision of the Special Act. She directed the authorities to provide employment to Pavithra, based on her educational qualification, within three months.