Cabinet meeting was beginning of conspiracy in JBT scam: CBI

CBI today told the Delhi High Court that the conspiracy in the teachers' recruitment scam, in which former Haryana Chief Minister O P Chautala was jailed for 10 years, had begun in September 1999 when the recruitment was taken out of the purview of Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC).
Commencing his argument for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the bail plea of Chautala and others, Solicitor General(SG) Mohan Parasaran told Justice Mukta Gupta about the facts which led to the junior basic trained (JBT) teachers' recruitment scam.
The senior lawyer submitted Chautala had become the Chief Minister in July 1999 and he had also the additional charge of Education Minister.

The previous government in the state had taken the initiative for largescale recruitment of JBT teachers and the work was assigned to HSSC, he said.
The counsel argued the cabinet headed by Chautala had held the first meeting in September in which a decision was taken to "take away" the teachers' recruitment process from HSSC and to hand over the same to the directorate of primary education for the recruitment through district-level selection committees (DLSCs).
The senior law officer contended the issue was not on the agenda but the cabinet had taken the decision.
"The cabinet decision was the first step of the conspiracy....After which, the advertisement was issued for the recruitment and the entire appointment process was completed in October, 2000," the lawyer said.

On January 22, the trial court had convicted and sentenced Chautala and nine others to ten years jail-term for illegally recruiting 3,206 junior teachers in 2000.