Delhi HC reserves verdict on plea by BJP MLAs over placing CAG reports in assembly

New Delhi, Jan 16 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its order on a plea by opposition MLAs seeking a sitting of the Delhi Assembly for tabling of several CAG reports on the city government.

Justice Sachin Datta reserved the verdict after hearing senior lawyers appearing for the petitioners, the Speaker as well as the Delhi government.

"Arguments heard. Judgement reserved," the judge said.

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 sitting of the assembly for the purpose of immediate tabling of 14 CAG reports.

The petitioners filed the plea through lawyers Neeraj and Satya Ranjan Swain.

The CAG, in its reports, was critical of some of the AAP-led Delhi government's policies, including its now-scrapped excise policy for reportedly causing losses to the exchequer.

The senior lawyers for the Speaker as well as the government on Thursday opposed the passing of such a direction by the court and said there was no urgency to table the reports at a stage when the assembly elections were to be held soon.

The Speaker's counsel questioned whether any "fruitful purpose" would be served if a sitting of the House was called "hardly 20 days" before its mandate ended.

He emphasised that the CAG reports were considered by the assembly in a manner which was set out and included referring them to the public accounts committee (PAC), and there was no bar on the reports being considered by the next assembly post polls.

The senior lawyer appearing for the Delhi government said there was no urgency in the matter and the hurry was only political in nature.

The petitioners' senior counsel, on the other hand, accused the government of delaying the matter and said the upcoming elections made the placing of the audit reports in the assembly even more pertinent.

"They can’t delay this matter to the last day. They are now taking advantage of their own wrong. They have violated the constitutional obligations of promptness," he said, while adding that permitting the government to "get away" with the non-tabling of the reports would be a "fraud" on the Constitution.

In a reply filed in the matter, the assembly secretariat has maintained that no useful purpose would be served in laying CAG reports before the assembly when its tenure was ending in February and no judicial order could be passed to the Speaker in matters of internal functioning of the legislative assembly.

It asserted that being the guardian of the House under the Constitution, the Speaker's discretion to summon a sitting of the legislative assembly was part of its internal functioning, which was outside the purview of any judicial review.

The response further said that the petitioners’ reliance on the public's constitutional right to know the contents of the CAG reports to safeguard public money and interest was "exaggerated, manipulated and devoid of merit".

The Delhi lieutenant governor also filed a reply in the matter, claiming that the high court was empowered to direct the Speaker to immediately ensure the laying of the reports before the House.

The LG emphasised the "extraordinary delay" in laying of the audit reports and said the people of Delhi, through their representatives in the Legislative Assembly of Delhi, were entitled to have access to the CAG reports as per the constitutional mandate.

During a hearing on the petition held on January 13, the court had orally remarked that the CAG reports 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".

The petition said the Delhi government was acting in breach of its statutory duty by failing to "promptly" lay crucial Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports on various issues such as pollution and liquor before the assembly.

The plea claimed that several CAG reports from 2017-2018 to 2021-2022 were pending with Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, who also held the finance portfolio. PTI ADS ADS KVK KVK