Chautala's plea for extension of bail dismissed

The Delhi High Court Friday refused to extend the interim bail granted to former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, sentenced to 10 years in jail for irregularities in the appointment of teachers in 2000.

The former chief minister was asked by the court to surrender by Sep 17.

Justice Siddharth Mridul dismissed the plea that Chautala made on medical grounds, and accepted the report of a committee set up by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences which said that he did not require further hospitalisation.

The court asked Chautala, the chief of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), to surrender by Sep 17 before Tihar jail authorities in Delhi.

Chautala was earlier granted interim bail May 21 for pacemaker implant surgery at Gurgaon's Medanta Hospital. He had been getting extension of bail since then on medical grounds.

Filing the plea, 78-year-old Chautala had said that his pacemaker implant was done June 3, and the doctor had advised regular check-ups for three months.

Apart from the heart ailment, Chautala also suffers from other age-related problems.

A trial court in the national capital had sentenced Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala and eight others to 10 years in jail. One convict was sentenced to five years in jail, while 45 others were each handed out four-year jail terms.

Chautala and the other accused were found guilty of illegally recruiting 3,206 junior basic trained teachers in Haryana in 2000.