The Delhi High Court on Friday declined the plea of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief O.P. Chautala, serving a 10-year jail term in a teachers’ recruitment scam case, to extend his parole to look after his ailing wife.
The 82-year-old former Haryana Chief Minister is already on parole, which is scheduled to expire on January 8.
“At this stage, the court does not see any ground to extend the parole. The application is dismissed,” Justice Mukta Gupta said, adding Chautala cannot get parole for indefinite period for this purpose.
The court said there were other family members to look after his wife, admitted in a hospital here, and that he should reserve it for a better time.
Chautala was granted two-week parole on December 22 by the High Court, which had restrained him from involving in any other activity. The court had also restrained him from moving out of Sirsa, where his wife was earlier admitted in a hospital.
Chautala had pleaded that his wife Sneh Lata was critically ill and was hospitalised at Sirsa, Haryana, and that he wanted to spend time with his wife “in her last days”.
Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala 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.
The Supreme Court in August 2015 had dismissed Chautalas’ appeals against the High Court verdict upholding their conviction and sentence of 10 years awarded by a trial court.
