JBT teachers scam | Reconsider ex-Haryana CM Chautala's plea for early release: HC to govt

The Delhi High Court (HC) directed the state government on Wednesday to consider a fresh plea of former Haryana Chief Minister (CM) OP Chautala, who seeks an early release from Tihar Central Jail under the special remission granted to senior citizens. The former Haryana CM was convicted in the case of illegal recruitment of 3,206 junior basic teachers (JBT) in 2000 and the Supreme Court in August 2015 upheld high court's conviction and the 10-year sentence announced. Recently, a bench of justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal had set aside government's order which rejected Chautala's early release plea.

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55 convicted in illegal recruitment of junior basic teachers

Former Haryana CM OP Chautala and his son Ajay Chautala were among the 55 convicted and sentenced in the case of illegal recruitment of 3,206 junior basic teachers (JBT) in 2000. The convicts also included two IAS officers, one of which was Sanjeev Kumar. A special CBI court back in January 2013 had pronounced varying jail terms for all the convicts. IAS Sanjeev Kumar, who was the then Director of Primary Education in Haryana had initially helped expose the scam, however, later he was also found to be involved in the scam during the CBI probe.

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Apart from OP and Ajay Chautala, the others who were sentenced to a 10-year jail term were Chautala's former Officer on Special Duty Vidya Dhar, Political Advisor to the former Haryana CM Sher Singh Badshami, Madan Lal Kalra, Durga Dutt Pradhan, Bani Singh, Ram Singh, and Daya Saini. Apart from them, one convict was handed a five-year jail sentence and the rest 44 were given four years of imprisonment. Among the 55 convicts, 16 were women officials.

All the 55 had been convicted and sentenced under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 418 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) of the IPC, and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

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(With ANI Inputs)