The CBI said a preliminary inquiry conducted by it showed that Chautala had arbitrarily raised the age limit from 45 to 50 and reduced the minimum work experience from five to three years. This had been done with a “deliberate intent, with the sole objective of favouring certain candidates as part of a criminal conspiracy,” the report said.

There were no justifiable grounds to relax the eligibility criteria as “more than required number of eligible candidates were available” even under the then existing norms - 45 years and five years of work experience - the CBI said. “As such, the action of the then Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala and his PS Dhalia can be seen as clearly malafide taken to favour certain candidates, including Dhalia’s son who would have been rendered ineligible to qualify as per the existing criteria,” the agency said.

A committee headed by the Chief Secretary during the Chautala regime had recommended 15 Tehsildars and a District Revenue Officer to the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) for appointment to the HCS Executive Branch ignoring the claims of those who had better annual confidential report (ACR) gradings. While one of the successful candidates was a son of Dhalia, another was a close relative of Ashok Arora, the then Transport Minister. The CBI was asked to inquire into the alleged irregularities in the nominations made by the Chautala government by the Punjab and Haryana High Court first and then by the Supreme Court. The agency has recommended departmental disciplinary proceedings against then Excise and Taxation Commissioner SN Roy.

The CBI has recommended to the Supreme Court to direct cancellation of the nomination of Anurag Dhalia, Sant Lal Pachar and Mange Ram, who were nominated to the HCS from Register A-I (from among district revenue officers, tehsildars and naib-tehsildars) and all the six candidates, who were selected from Register A-II (from among Group “C” services). The recommendations had been approved by Chautala. “This clearly implies that Chautala was aware of the recommendations and hence cannot escape ultimate responsibility for approving non-deserving candidates,” says the CBI report. The list of candidates had been submitted to HPSC on September 27, 2004.

The CBI said its inquiry into another set of appointments “showed that then Transport Minister Ashok Arora, Financial Commissioner RN Parashar and others had entered into a criminal conspiracy for giving undue benefit to an undeserving candidate.”

On September 1, 2005, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had ordered a CBI probe on petitions filed by some of the candidates, following which the CBI registered a preliminary inquiry on October 18, 2005. The HPSC has moved the SC challenging the HC order. The SC, however, has allowed the CBI probe to go on.