SC upholds jail term of Chautala, son Ajay

New Delhi, August 3 

Former Haryana Chief Minister and INLD leader OP Chautala and his son Ajay Singh Chautala today failed to get any relief from the Supreme Court, which rejected their appeals against the Delhi High Court verdict upholding their conviction and 10-year jail term in the teachers' recruitment scam case.

“We are not inclined to entertain any of these appeals and they are dismissed," a bench of Justices FMI Kalifulla and Shiva Kirti Singh said.

The Bench, which did not even issue notice to the CBI on the plea of 80-year-old Chautala and others, rejected their criminal appeals saying that the High Court verdict was "reasoned" one. Senior lawyers, including Harish Salve, L Nageswara Rao, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Vikas Singh were representing various convicts in the case.

Salve, appearing for the former Chief Minister, alleged that the trial court and the High Court erred in arriving at the conclusion to hold Chautala guilty of the offence. The Chief Minister, in the criminal law, cannot be held "vicariously" liable for the offence committed by others, he said.

Referring to the sequence of events in the case, he said that so called whistleblower IAS officer, who had first moved the court alleging pressure from the Chief Minister was later "rightly" declared a "crook" by the CBI.

No case was made out against Chautala, he added. After hearing Salve for almost an hour, the Bench dismissed the plea. Other senior lawyers also tried to reason out with the bench that their cases were on different footing. However, the bench did not agree with the submission and dismissed eleven other petitions. The court said that the convicts may move the high court with their pleas seeking relief like parole on health ground.

Chautala, his son and three others are serving 10-year jail term in the case. The HC had on March 5 upheld the jail term awarded to all of them. — PTI