Delhi government admits CAG report's validity in HC amidst AAP's denial

New Delhi: The CAG report, which Aam Aadmi Party leaders are denying as false, was indeed accepted as true by the Delhi government lawyer in the High Court when he blamed the LG office for leaking it to the public.

Justice Sachin Datta of the Delhi High Court, who was hearing a petition by the BJP MLAs, said the government should have promptly placed the CAG reports before the house for discussion.

"The way you dragged your feet raises doubts about your bonafides. You should have promptly forwarded the reports to the speaker," Justice Datta said, "and had a discussion in the house. The timeline is stark. See the way you have been dragging your feet is something that is unfortunate."

Opposition leader Vijender Gupta and BJP MLAs Mohan Singh Bisht, Om Prakash Sharma, Ajay Kumar Mahawar, Abhay Verma, Anil Kumar Bajpai and Jitendra Mahajan filed the petition last year and sought a direction to the speaker to call a session of the assembly for the purpose of tabling of the CAG reports.

Justice Datta, during the hearing, said calling an assembly session was the prerogative of the speaker and asked if the court could pass a direction to the speaker to do it, especially when the elections were around the corner.

Senior counsel for the government raised an objection with respect to the "political" nature of the petition, and alleged the LG office had made the reports public and shared it with newspapers.

"How does it matter?" asked the court.

Even as the government lawyer admitted to it in the High Court, AAP released a statement that called the CAG report false.

Hours after high court's rebuke to it over tabling of the reports in the House, the ruling AAP said that the pending CAG reports have been sent to Delhi Assembly Speaker and the government has no role beyond it.

The BJP, citing the court's reprimand, said that the AAP government has lost the "moral ground" to remain in power.

"The CAG reports have been sent to the Delhi Legislative Assembly Speaker for tabling in the next session of the Assembly. Beyond this, we have no role," the Aam Aadmi Party said in a statement.

The party alleged that the BJP was "fabricating" fake CAG reports and concocting "baseless" stories to mislead the public.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the reports in question would be tabled in the first sitting of the new Assembly "after BJP comes to power."

The court's remark "Why are you dragging your feet from discussion," is a very serious observation, in light of which, the AAP government has no moral ground to remain in power, he said.

The Delhi High Court earlier the day said CAG reports concerning the city administration should have been promptly placed before the assembly for discussion and the state government "dragging its feet" on the issue raised "doubts on its bonafides."

Hearing a petition by the opposition MLAs from BJP, the court asked if it could direct the speaker, having the "prerogative" to call a sitting of the assembly, when elections were around the corner.

The Delhi BJP MLAs recently staged a dharna at Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel's office, demanding he call a special session of the House.

The BJP also demanded Delhi Chief Minister Atishi's resignation.

Her rival from the Kalkaji seat in the upcoming Delhi polls, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said the Comptroller and Auditor General reports were "suppressed" for six months.

"The CAG reports also include details of Sheesh Mahal and liquor scam so the AAP government deliberately kept these reports hidden," he alleged.

Sachdeva said that since 2023, the AAP government, earlier headed by Arvind Kejriwal and now Atishi, has been sitting on the CAG reports, including the one on the construction of the "Sheesh Mahal."

The BJP has been accusing Kejriwal of corruption, dubbing the 6, Flagstaff Road bungalow, where he lived as Delhi chief minister, "Sheesh Mahal," alleging irregularities in its reconstruction and fitting it with costly fixtures.