Division Bench of Delhi HC to decide early release of former Haryana CM

The Single Judge Bench of Delhi High Court on Friday transferred the petition of former Haryana Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala, to the Division Bench of the court. Chautala had sought directions from the respondent/state to release him by granting special remission in view of related notification of 2020.

The Single Judge Bench of Delhi High Court on Friday transferred the petition of former Haryana Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala, to the Division Bench of the court. Chautala had sought directions from the respondent/state to release him by granting special remission in view of related notification of 2020. While transferring the matter to the division bench, the Bench of Justice Yogesh Khanna also extended the date of his surrender from February 21 to February 23.The 86-year-old Chautala had filed the petition before Delhi High Court through his counsel Amit Sahni, submitting that he has undergone almost the entire period of his incarceration and as such, in view of the earlier order passed in December 2019 by the Division Bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Sangita Dhinga Sehgal, the Delhi Government has not granted special remission to the convict/petitioner.

Appearing for the former CM, senior advocate N Hariharan and advocate Sahni submitted that how many times would the petitioner be required to approach this court and that almost the entire sentence of Chautala has been completed. He is not being given the benefit of special remission in view of notification, despite directions of this Court. The Court asked Chautala's counsel as to why this petition is listed before the single judge while directions to consider the case of the petitioner were passed by the Division Bench in December 2019.

The Court said it was inclined to list the matter before the Division Bench to which the counsel responded that he has no reservations if the matter is taken up by the Division Bench of Delhi High Court. Justice Yogesh Khanna passed directions to list the matter before the Division Bench subject to orders from the Chief Justice.

The Court also extended the parole of Chautala till February 23 on which date the matter of Chautala would be listed before the Division Bench. Chautala and others were convicted and sentenced in the case of illegal recruitment of 3,206 junior basic teachers (JBT) in 2000. (ANI)

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