Did Chautala pass class XII exam? Documents beg to differ

Chandigarh: INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala's son may have said that his 82-year-old father, who is in jail, has passed class XII exam, but documents speak otherwise.

Recently, the former Haryana chief minister's younger son and INLD secretary general Abhay Chautala had claimed that his father has passed higher secondary examination in first division, while serving a 10-year sentence in Delhi's Tihar jail.

However, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) has clarified that Chautala had appeared for class X and not class XII exams and neither of the results have been declared.

Documents show that Chautala had appeared for class X exams in the subjects of social sciences, science and technology, Hindi, Indian culture and heritage and business studies. He took the exams at Delhi's Tihar jail from April six to April 24.

On being contacted, Abhay said he had told the media whatever he was informed about.

Also, an affidavit filed by Chautala for contesting the 2005 Haryana Assembly election from Rori seat mentions that he is under-matric.

But, the affidavit submitted ahead of the 2009 Assembly polls to contest from Uchana seat claims that he is a matriculate from Higher Secondary Gramothan Vidyapeeth at Sangaria in Rajasthan.

The INLD supremo, who was convicted in the teachers' recruitment scam case, is now planning to pursue a BA course, Abhay had told the media recently.

"He appeared for the Class XII examination conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling at the centre set up for prisoners at Tihar Jail.

"The last examination was held on April 23. He was out on parole during that time, but as the examination centre was inside the jail premises, he went back to the jail and sat for the examination," the INLD secretary general had said.

The senior Chautala was out on parole last month to attend the wedding of his grandson and Hisar MP, Dushyant Singh Chautala. His parole ended on May 5.

"He has been in prison for the last four-and-a-half years. My father thought of putting his time to best use and pursue his studies," Abhay had said.

He refused to be dragged into any controversy over the affidavits filed by his father before poll panel and said, "It did not matter much whether he appeared in class X or XII."

"When he was in school, my grandfather Chaudhary Devi Lal was into politics. Who was to take care of the large family, who will look after farming? These were some of the issues which my father, being the eldest member of the family after Devi Lal, had to take care of.

"This forced him to leave his studies in between and the responsibility to educate his younger siblings also fell on him. Later, he himself entered politics and found little time to pursue his studies," Abhay had said.

He had said his father often visits the Tihar jail library, where he reads newspapers and books.

"He also asks the jail staff to arrange for his favourite books," Abhay had said.