The Supreme Court dismissed the plea of former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and others, challenging their conviction and award of 10-year jail term in the teachers’ recruitment scam case.
“We are not inclined to entertain any of these appeals. They have been dismissed,” a bench of Justices FMI Kalifulla and Shiva Kirti Singh said.
Besides 80-year-old Chautala’s appeal, the bench also dismissed the plea of his son Ajay Singh Chautala, 54, and others in the case saying that the Delhi High Court verdict was a reasoned one.
The court, however, said that the convicts may move the high court with their pleas seeking relief like parole on health grounds.
Chautala, his son and three others are serving a10-year jail term in the case.
A Supreme Court judge had on July 6 recused himself from hearing Chautala’s plea saying he had appeared for some of the convicts in the case.
The high court had on March 5 upheld the jail term awarded to Chautala, his son Ajay and three others, saying, “The overwhelming evidence showed the shocking and spine-chilling state of affairs in the country.”
The father-son duo and 53 others, including two IAS officers, were convicted on January 16, 2013, by the trial court for illegally recruiting 3,206 junior basic trained (JBT) teachers in Haryana in 2000.
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