Delhi High Court Turns Down OP Chautala's Plea To Extend Parole

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today dismissed a plea of INLD chief OP Chautala, serving a ten- year jail term in teachers recruitment scam case, to extend his parole to look after his ailing wife.

The 82-year-old former Haryana chief minister will have to surrender on January 8, when his parole is due to expire.

Justice Mukta Gupta refused to extend the relief granted to Chautala on December 22, 2017, saying there were other family members to look after his wife, admitted in a hospital here, and he should reserve it for a better time.

"At this stage, the court does not see any ground to extend the parole. The application is dismissed," the court said, adding that Mr Chautala has been able to oversee improvement in the health of his wife and he cannot get parole for indefinite period for this purpose.

Senior advocate Sudhir Nandrajog and advocate Amit Sahni, appearing for Mr Chautala, sought extension of parole by four weeks on the grounds that his wife was now admitted in Medanta Medicity Hospital in Gurgaon and he wanted to look after her.

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Sensing the mood of the court which was not inclined to grant the relief, the counsel urged it to extend the parole by a week but the prayer was declined.

The court had on December 22 last year granted a two-week parole to Mr Chautala and restrained him from involving in any other activity. It had also stopped him from moving out of Sirsa where his wife was earlier admitted in a hospital.

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In the petition, the leader had said that his wife Sneh Lata was critically ill and was hospitalised at Sirsa in Haryana and that he wanted to spend time with his wife "in her last days".

Delhi Police standing counsel Rahul Mehra had opposed his parole plea, saying the court had earlier cancelled Mr Chautala's parole and furlough on the grounds that he was attending political rallies.

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

The Supreme Court in August 2015 had dismissed Mr Chautalas' appeals against the high court verdict upholding their conviction and sentence of 10 years jail term awarded by a trial court in the junior basic trained teachers recruitment scam case.

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