Jailed former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala today failed to get a reprieve from the Delhi High Court on his plea for interim bail on health grounds.
The court sought the CBI’s response on 78-year-old Chautala’s plea and also wanted to see his medical records from the jail authorities. Chautala, a five-time Chief Minister, has been lodged in Tihar Jail since January 16.
“Issue notice to CBI. Medical records to be produced before the court on next date of hearing,” Justice Mukta Gupta said while posting the matter for April 4.
The court issued the notice while hearing Chautala’s interim bail plea and also his appeal against the January 22 trial court’s order convicting and sentencing him to 10 years in jail for illegally recruiting 3,206 junior teachers 12 years ago.
Appearing for Chautala, senior advocate Gopal Subramanium urged the court to give an early hearing to his bail plea on medical grounds.
The former Solicitor-General submitted that “due to old age he (Chautala) is suffering from various ailments requiring medical attention. He is not in the best of his condition and the documents have already been produced before the court.”
Referring to the grounds taken in the bail plea, Subramanium said, it is a case of no evidence and the trial court findings were based on the testimony of IAS officer Sanjiv Kumar, who was also sentenced to 10 years in jail in the case, and not on the basis of investigation and evidence.
He also submitted that “Chautala being the leader of Opposition in Haryana Assembly, his presence is required in its Budget session which is to commence from February 22.”
To this submission, the court asked, “Can’t other members represent the party in the House?”
The court declined to fix an early date to hear his plea saying, “I have no record to go through before passing any order. If there is some urgency, you can very well come and approach the court.”
Opposing Chautala’s plea, CBI counsel Rajdeepa Behura submitted, “He has already been discharged from the hospital and his bail is not required at this stage.”