Delhi HC dismisses Ajay Chautala's parole plea in teachers' recruitment scam case

New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed the plea by INLD leader Ajay Chautala, serving a 10-year jail term in a teachers’ recruitment scam case, seeking 12 weeks’ parole for medical treatment. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath was of the view that there was “no illegality or perversity” in Delhi government’s November 2015 decision declining to grant him parole. He had challenged the order in the High Court. [caption id=“attachment_2783982” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Ajay Chautala. News18[/caption] The bench noted that he was discharged from hospital on October 2015 and thereafter, there has been no medical reports regarding his medical condition. It, however, granted him the liberty to move a fresh application before the government for grant of parole. It directed the government to decide the application, if any, within four weeks. The judgement came on Chautala’s plea against a single judge’s 27 April decision rejecting his appeal against the Delhi government’s November 2015 decision. The Supreme Court on 3 August last year had dismissed the appeals of Ajay and his father OP Chautala challenging the high court’s verdict upholding their conviction and sentence of 10 years awarded by a trial court in the junior basic trained (JBT) teachers recruitment scam case. The apex court which, however, had said the convicts may move the high court with their pleas seeking relief like parole on health grounds. The high court had on 5 March, 2015, upheld the 10-year jail term awarded to Chautalas 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 16 January, 2013 by the trial court for illegally recruiting 3,206 JBT teachers in Haryana in 2000. Besides Chautalas and two IAS officers, the high court had also awarded 10-year prison term to Sher Singh Badshami, then an MLA and political adviser to Chautala senior. The high court, however, had modified the trial court’s order on the quantum of sentence of 50 other convicts and awarded two-year jail term to them. All the 55 convicts were sentenced under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 418 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) of IPC and provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. Initially, there were 62 accused in the case. While two had died before filing of the charge sheet, four passed away during the trial of the case and one was discharged by the trial court.