As Fazilka MLA seeks to tweak age, Jyani contests claim
CHANDIGARH: A legal tussle over the age of Congress MLA Davinder Singh Ghubaya, who was allegedly below 25 at the time of his election from Fazilka early this year, and former BJP minister Surjit Singh Jyani, who lost to him, has intensified.
As Ghubaya had approached a court here to “rectify” his age in educational documents that show him to be 23 years old, Jyani has now pleaded that he be made a party in the case. The matter is next listed for hearing on December 2.
Objections were originally raised by an independent candidate about Ghubaya’s age during the assembly elections as his academic certificates say he was 23 at the time.
Ghubaya later took the legal route saying that according to his birth certificate, issued at a hospital, he was already 25.
He made his school in Chandigarh and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) parties in the case.
He argued that he belongs to a family wherein most of the members are “not well educated” and hence the “error” had crept in. Jyani has filed a rejoinder saying that the family is running an educational institution and Ghubaya’s father is also a member of Parliament, “thus it is an incorrect claim”. The family owns Ghubaya College of Engineering and Technology in Jalalabad whose chairman is Ghubaya’s mother, Jyani said through his counsel Dinesh Madra.
He has also alleged that Ghubaya is using his father’s influence to tamper with records, and even the birth certificate has been forged. He has claimed that the nursing home where Ghubaya was born has no record of the day.
Jyani, the then incumbent MLA who lost by a mere 265 votes, has also challenged the election in the high court.
Ghubaya studied in DAV School, Jalalabad, up to Class 8 and passed his Class 10 exams from DAV School, Sector 15, Chandigarh, while he has completed a bachelor’s degree in law and is currently pursuing MA from Panjab University.