In a major decision, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday quashed the selection of 3,206 junior basic teachers (JBT) who were appointed in the controversial selection process in 2000 during the then Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala's regime.
Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala and 53 others were jailed by a CBI court in Delhi last year.
Justice K Kannan while quashing the appointment of 3,206 JBT teachers, also directed the State Government to prepare a fresh merit list of the candidates who had appeared in the selection process at that time. As most of the JBT teachers are working as teachers for more than 12 years and some of them have also got promotions during their service period, court also directed the State Government that it can give relaxation in their age or marks, if the State Government thinks appropriate, said Sat Narian Yadav, advocate of the petitioners, who challenged the recruitment of these 3206 JBT teachers.
All these candidates were selected during the tenure of the former CM and Indian National lok Dal (INlD) chief OP Chautala and on January 22, 2013, the special CBI court, Rohni, at New Delhi had in January last year convicted and sentenced Om Prakash Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala for 10 years imprisonment besides sentencing two IAS officers Vidya Dhar and Sanjiv Kumar and 51 others on corruption charges in the same case.
The orders were passed by the High Court in the wake of a bunch of petitions in which petitioners had claimed that they were in the original selection list, which was later changed on behest of O P Chautala to accommodate his favorable candidates. The 3206 JBT teachers, whose job is at stake, may file a petition for a review of the decision and would pray to refer the matter to a Division Bench.