In jail, 82-year-old Chautala clears Class XII examination

May 17, 2017

Chandigarh, May 17: At the ripe old age of 82, former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala has passed his higher secondary examination in the first division, while serving out a 10 year sentence in Delhi's Tihar jail.

Chautala, who was convicted in the teachers' recruitment scam case, is now planning to pursue a BA course, his younger son and senior INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala said here today.

"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 jail and sat for the examination," Abhay 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 said, adding that he had cleared the exam in the first division.

According to him, the Indian National Lok Dal president was forced to discontinue his studies during his school days due to family compulsions.

"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 told PTI here.

He 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."

An unlikely source of inspiration for the former chief minister was Manu Sharma, serving a life term for killing model Jessica Lall in 1999, who was pursuing an LLB course while being lodged in the prison.

"Manu's Cell in Tihar prison is also adjoining to the one where Chautala sahib is lodged and saw him pursue higher studies from prison," he said.

Abhay hoped other prisoners would take encouragement from the achievement and realise the importance of education.

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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