JBT scam: Delhi govt opposes O P Chautala's parole plea

The Delhi government Friday opposed in the Delhi High Court a parole plea by INLD chief O P Chautala, serving 10-year jail term in a teachers' recruitment scam.

Chautala (85) has approached the court seeking parole for three months to spend time with his critically ill wife who is admitted to intensive care unit in a hospital.

The government contended that Chautala had earlier abused the liberty granted to him and will do so again.

Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal heard part arguments on the plea and listed it for further hearing on April 25.

The court indicated that it could consider his prayer for meeting his 83-year-old wife and to settle the dispute between his two sons, but it was not inclined to grant parole for the purpose of reviving social ties.

Delhi government standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra said the petition does not contain sufficient grounds for parole and Chautala should not be given the relief as it is election time in Delhi and Haryana.

"He (Chautala) is a master litigant. These litigations will continue. The family dispute will not end and these pleas will continue to come up. He is sentenced under the Prevention of Corruption Act and will have to suffer," Mehra argued.

"His sons are busy in elections, what kind of feud he is trying to resolve. His wife is old and ill and is being taken care of by 10 persons in the family," he said.

"These people are staying in seven-star hospital, enjoying luxuries there, abusing the liberty given by the court," he added.

Senior advocate N Hariharan, representing Chautala, contended that his client was entitled to restore his ties with his wife.

"I am also entitled to restore social ties," he said on behalf of Chautala.

The INLD leader, in his plea filed through advocate Amit Sahni, has said he had submitted an application for parole with the jail authorities in November 2018.

In the application, he claimed that being the head of the family he has to amicably settle the dispute between his two sons.

Another ground for parole was to look after his ailing wife, who is suffering from various age-related chronic ailments.

Chautala's parole plea was rejected by the home ministry of Delhi in January this year on the ground that he had already availed two weeks parole and seven weeks furlough in 2018.

Earlier in December 2017, Chautala was granted two weeks' parole to take care of his ailing wife.

In March 2017, the high court had cancelled his parole for attending public meetings across Haryana.

Besides Chautala, his elder son Ajay and three others are serving a 10-year jail term in the case.

The father-son duo and 53 others, including two IAS officers, were among 55 persons convicted on January 16, 2013 by a trial court for illegally recruiting 3,206 junior basic trained teachers in Haryana in 2000.

Later, Chautalas' conviction was upheld by the high court and the Supreme Court.