JBT scam: OP Chautala gets 6-month remission, to be set free

In this post, we will discuss about the JBT scam case where OP Chautala gets 6 month remission period to be set free.

Facts of the case: O P Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala, and 53 others, including IAS officer Sanjiv Kumar, were convicted and sentenced in the case of illegal recruitment of 3,206 junior basic teachers in 2000. They all were sentenced to varying jail terms in the case by a special CBI court in January 2013.  Kumar, the then Director of Primary Education in Haryana, had initially exposed the scam after he filed a plea in the Supreme Court. Later, he was also found to be involved in the scam during a CBI probe. Apart from the Chautalas and Kumar, Chautala’s former Officer on Special Duty Vidya Dhar and political advisor to the then Haryana CM Sher Singh Badshami were also given 10-year jail terms. One convict was handed a five-year jail sentence and the rest 44 were given four years of imprisonment. His lawyers had submitted that the Petitioner is aged about 83 years old and as per the disability certificate issued by the Dr RML Hospital, New Delhi on April 25, 2013, the petitioner is suffering from 60 per cent permanent disability of Residual Paralysis of both lower limbs and left upper limb.

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Legal Issue: Whether OP Chautala gets a 6 month remission or not.

Legal Opinion: A senior jail official stated that Chautala was jailed on January 16, 2013. He was on emergency parole since March 26, 2020, due to the Covid pandemic and was scheduled to surrender on February 21, 2021. However, his parole had been extended by the high court. As of February 21, he had two months and 27 days of jail time left which will now be counted as remitted. He will be formally released whenever he surrenders before the jail authority. Although the 10-year jail time period of O P Chautala, who was convicted in January 2013, would have been over in 2023, he has spent 9 years and 6 months in jail, considering numerous remissions granted to him yearly. A communication from Central Jail No 3, Tihar, stated that it is knowledgeable that the convict Om Prakash Chautala s/o Devi Lal has accomplished his sentence and he’s eligible for particular remission. OP Chautala’s son Ajay Chautala and different senior officers who have been convicted together with him wouldn’t get reduction below the coverage. Sources mentioned that Ajay Chautala has remained out of jail on numerous grounds and wouldn’t be entitled for particular remission.

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Decision of the court: The Delhi government had passed an order on Monday granting a six-month special remission to those who have served nine-and-half years of their 10-year prison sentence to decongest jails in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Delhi government has passed an order regarding special remission of six months to convicts who are sentenced for 10 years and have already completed nine years and six months of custody, including regular remission. The order stated that convicts who are sentenced for seven years or more but less than 10 years, and are left with only five months to complete the sentence will get remission of five months. Convicts who are sentenced for five years or more but less than seven years, and are left with only four months to complete the sentence, will get remission of four months. Similarly, those sentenced to three years or more in prison but less than five years and are left with only three months and those with one year or more sentence but less than three years and are left with only two months, will get remissions of three months and two months respectively.

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Conclusion: Therefore as per the facts of the case, Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, who is serving a 10-year prison term in a teacher recruitment scam case and is out on parole, will be freed from Tihar jail as the Delhi government has granted a six-month remission of sentence.

For case specific advice, please contact best top expert remission lawyers advocates in Chandigarh Panchkula Mohali Kharar Zirakpur Derabassi.

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