Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 16 (IANS) A city court Wednesday asked former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala to appear before it Aug 20 after it took cognizance of a charge-sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against him in a teachers’ recruitment scam of 2003. The charge-sheet also names his son and former MP Ajay Chautala, two Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers and 56 others.

According to CBI, the accused used forged documents to appoint 3,206 Junior Basic Trained (JBT) teachers after taking hefty amounts from them, which could collectively run into millions of rupees.

CBI Special Judge R.K Yadav issued notice to the accused for Aug 20.

Sanjiv Kumar, a self-proclaimed whistle-blower who was then director of primary education, and Chautala’s former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Vidya Dhar are the two IAS officers named in the charge-sheet, which was filed June 6.

The CBI alleged that the appointments were made on the basis of a second set of final interview list prepared at the behest of the former chief minister, his son Ajay Chautala, who was then a Lok Sabha member, Vidya Dhar, political advisor Sher Singh Badsami, and primary education director Sanjiv Kumar, who had played an active role in the process.

The case was registered on the basis of the Supreme Court’s order of November 2003. Originally, a preliminary enquiry was registered by the investigating agency, which was later converted into a regular case in May 2004.

The CBI subsequently also registered a disproportionate assets case against Chautala and conducted searches against him at a number of places in Delhi and Haryana.