Delhi HC directs govt to consider afresh former Haryana chief minister OP Chautala’s plea for early release in JBT teachers scam

The Delhi high court on Wednesday directed the city government to consider afresh former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala’s plea for early release from

The Delhi high court on Wednesday directed the city government to consider afresh former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala’s plea for early release from jail in the junior basic teachers’ (JBT) recruitment scam.

Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala after his conviction in the junior basic teacher recruitment scam. (HT file photo)

A bench of justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal set aside the government’s earlier order by which Chautala’s plea for early release was rejected.

Chautala, his son Ajay, and 53 others, including IAS officer Sanjiv Kumar, were convicted and sentenced in the case of illegal recruitment of 3,206 JBTs in 2000.

They were sentenced to varying jail terms by a special CBI court in January 2013. Kumar, the then director of primary education in Haryana, had initially exposed the scam after he filed a plea in the Supreme Court. Later, he was also found to be involved in the scam during a CBI probe.

Apart from the Chautalas and Kumar, Chautala’s former officer on special duty Vidya Dhar and then Haryana CM political adviser, Sher Singh Badshami, were also given 10-year jail terms.

The others sentenced to a decade in jail are Madan Lal Kalra, Durga Dutt Pradhan, Bani Singh, Ram Singh and Daya Saini.

Apart from them, one convict was handed a five-year jail sentence and the remaining 44 were given four years’ imprisonment. Among the 55 convicts, 16 are women officials.