Ex-CM Chautala, son sentenced to 10 years in jail

Ex-CM Chautala, son sentenced to 10 years in jail

Two IAS Officers Among 8 Others To Get 10-Yr Terms

Smriti Singh TNN

New Delhi: Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, 78, and his son Ajay Chautala were on Tuesday sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment for illegally recruiting over 3,000 junior basic trained teachers 12 years ago, with a special CBI court brushing aside their plea for leniency on the ground that the case had hurt them politically and diminished them in the public eye.
    As thousands of supporters of the INLD chief clashed with Delhi Police outside the court, special CBI judge Vinod Kumar held that the “enormity” of the offence of the fatherson duo was enhanced by the “brazenness” with which they resorted to illegal rights, depriving the eligible candidates of their constitutional rights.
    In all, the special judge sentenced 55 convicts, including two IAS officers, to varying jail terms. Besides the Chautalas, the court awarded jail terms of 10 years each to eight others, including a woman and two IAS officers — Vidya Dhar who was Chautala’s Officer on Special Duty and Sanjiv Kumar, the then director of primary education, who had claimed to be the whistleblower in the case. Sher Singh Badshami, who like the Chautalas is a sitting MLA and had worked as the ex-Haryana CM’s political advisor, was also given 10 years. The judgment bracketed Chautala with Jayalalithaa and Shibu Soren, two other former CMs who have been convicted for alleged irregularities.
    Chautala had cited his failing health as he is a diabetic, and has 70% disability in his right leg besides suffering from various other ailments. Chautala’s counsel also claimed that he had clean antecedents. Stressing that Chautala had been the CM of Haryana for five terms, the counsel argued “if he would have committed anything wrong, public would not have voted for him”.
    Sentencing former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala to 10 years in jail, special CBI judge Vinod Kumar said, “I find no reason not to believe the aforesaid submissions… but the relevant points for considering the sentence are the circumstances attending the offence.”
‘NO REASON FOR LENIENCY’
    Former Haryana CM O P Chautala and son Ajay get 10 yrs’ jail for illegally recruiting over 3,000 teachers 12 yrs ago
    Chautalas’ plea for leniency, on ground that it was difficult for them to face society after conviction, struck down by special CBI judge Vinod Kumar
    Father-son duo, both MLAs, will be disqualified as legislators unless they appeal within 3 months
    Eight others get 10-yr term, including 2 IAS officers— Sanjiv Kumar, then primary education director (whistle blower in the case) & Chautala’s former OSD Vidya Dhar. Another MLA, Sher Singh Badshami, also jailed for 10 yrs
    Lighter sentences (4-5 yrs) for 45 others for ‘being truthful’ during trial
    Court says the illegally selected teachers should be sacked Job scam swept all Haryana districts
Favoured Teachers To Lose Jobs
New Delhi: He, however, allowed for leniency for those who acted under pressure.
    Out of power for eight years now, the Chautalas used to lord over Haryana. In fact, Chautala had acquired leverage on decision-making far beyond the boundaries of his tiny state after his doting father ‘Tau’ Devi Lal rode on his image as a farmer leader to become the deputy Prime Minister in the Janata Dal government in 1989. When Devi Lal moved to the Centre, Chautala controlled Haryana before losing the next polls. Although controversies forced him to resign, he would retain his vice-like grip through proxies before taking the charge himself. In the process, he became the Chief Minister five times.
    Congress cited his alleged move to keep tabs on political moves of Rajiv Gandhi to bring down the Chandrashekhar government in 1991 leading to the mid-term polls and the appointment of Manmohan Singh as the finance minister: a development that unleashed economic liberalisation. The court’s order can have repercussions for the political career of the fivetime former CM and his son, though the fact that they are sitting MLAs would protect them from the law designed to bar those convicted from contesting elections. Under the Representation of the People Act, a person convicted of any offence and sentenced to more than two years imprisonment shall be disqualified from the date of conviction and for a further period of six years after his release. However, this does not apply in case of sitting members of legislatures if they decide to challenge their convictions within three moths in High Court.
    An appeal in High Court will result in the suspension of conviction until the appeal is dismissed by the High Court.
    Others who were given 10-year jail terms are Madan Lal Kalra, Durga Dutt Pradhan, Bani Singh, Ram Singh and Daya Saini. Apart from them, one convict has been handed five years and the remaining 45 were given four years imprisonment.
    The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on Chautala and Sanjiv Kumar, Rs 1,000 on Ajay Chautala, Vidhya Dhar and Sher Singh, and Rs 1,200 on the other five sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. A fine of Rs 400 was imposed by the court on the remaining 45 convicts, including 16 women.
    The court further said that the teachers who got illegally recruited 12 years ago should not be allowed to remain in job. “It has very clearly come on record that the favoured candidates were given 17 or more than 17 marks in the interviews…. Hence, such candidates should not be allowed to remain in job,” the court said while citing a Himachal Pradesh HC judgment on a similar issue. “Regarding the remaining, it would be appropriate if the districtwise merit list on the basis of the Supreme Court list is prepared (the original list),” the court said.
    In its 34-page order, the court said that the enormity of the offences could be seen from the fact that the conspiracy took in its sweep almost all the districts of Haryana.