While seeking urgent hearing of his appeal, Chautala

contended that the order of the trial court was liable to be set aside as "it was against the tenets of law as well as contrary to the evidence." He said, "The present case is false, fictitious and subsumed with political overtones" and he ought not to be put to "such great prejudice and hardship" due to his conviction and incarceration during the pendency of the accompanying appeal, which is unlikely to be disposed of expeditiously. "The trial court has failed to appreciate that in a democratic set up and under the principles of collective responsibility, it is the entire Council of Ministers which is responsible for a Cabinet decision and not any one minister. "In such a scenario, only singling out the appellant (Chautala) merely because he is the Chief Minister is unwarranted and erroneous. Further, it a settled principle that in a Cabinet, the Chief Minister is only first among equals," the petition filed by advocate Siddharth Aggarwal said. Apart from the Chautalas (father and son), the then Director of Primary Education Sanjiv Kumar, Chautala's former Officer on Special Duty Vidya Dhar, both IAS officers, political advisor to the then Haryana CM Sher Singh Badshami were given 10 years jail terms. The remaining five, including a woman, who have been awarded 10 years jail term, were 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 rest 44 were given four years imprisonment. Among the 55 convicts, 16 were women officials.