Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, serving 10-year jail term in teachers’ recruitment scam case, on Monday moved the Delhi high court, seeking 60 days’ parole to get medical treatment.
On August 3, the senior Chautala and son Ajay Singh Chautala’s appeal against the high court verdict was dismissed by the Supreme Court saying that the same was a “reasoned one”. The apex court had, however, said that the convicts may move the high court with their pleas seeking relief like parole on health grounds.
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief, his son and three others are serving 10-year jail terms in the case. The 82-year-old sought parole for 60 days for getting treatment for his polio-affected legs. The plea stated that on September 8, O.P. Chautala had moved an application for grant of parole to the Tihar Jail superintendent on medical grounds.
“On October 20, the home department of the Delhi government has informed that his plea for parole was dismissed, keeping in mind the 2010 parole guidelines, as per which there should be a gap of a minimum six months from the date of termination of last parole,” it stated. The petition also said that the INLD leader had last availed one-month parole in May this year, which was later extended till May 28. The plea, which was filed through advocate Amit Sahni, said the “petitioner is polio-affected since his birth and has permanent disability of 60 per cent. He was on bail during the trial and was released on parole, but he has never misused the same.” The six months will expire on November 28, so his plea be allowed, taking a lenient view, the counsel urged.
The high court had on March 5 upheld the jail term awarded to Chautala, his son Ajay and three others, saying, “the overwhelming evidence showed the shocking and spine-chilling state of affairs in the country.”
The father-son duo and 53 others, including two IAS officers, were convicted on January 16, 2013 by the trial court for illegally recruiting 3,206 JBT teachers in Haryana in 2000.
Besides the Chautalas and whistleblower IAS officer Sanjiv Kumar, the then director of primary education, the high court had also awarded 10-year prison term to IAS officer Vidya Dhar, then officer on special duty to the chief minister, and Sher Singh Badshami, then an MLA and political adviser to Chautala senior.
