Delhi HC to hear PIL for making CAG reports public on Mar 5

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New Delhi, Feb 3 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Monday said there was no urgency to hear a plea seeking to make public the 14 CAG reports on city administration.

A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela posted the matter on March 5 after the petitioner's counsel urged it to hear the PIL in view of the assembly polls on February 5.

"Day after is elections doesn't make the matter urgent," said the bench.

The senior counsel for the petitioner again mentioned the plea and requested the court to give a convenient date.

As the Delhi government counsel submitted nothing would survive in the matter after the conclusion of polls, the court said, "This case has nothing to do with election." On January 24, the court questioned the petitioner on his “right” to demand publication of the CAG reports.

The bench said the matter raised the question whether the CAG report could be considered as “information” under the RTI Act before it was tabled in the assembly.

It said the issue was “important” as a citizen was "trying to know something was confronted with a constitutional provision”.

The petitioner, Brij Mohan, a retired civil servant, said the voters in Delhi must be aware of the state of affairs in the capital and its financial health before they cast votes in the assembly polls.

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 plea claimed the reports, which related to various issues ranging from excise policy to pollution, had a direct impact on Delhi governance.

"The general elections are due in early 2025 in Delhi, and political parties are making all sorts of promises to voters in Delhi. It is absolutely essential that financial health of Delhi should be known to public before Delhi goes to polls," said the PIL.

It said the present deadlock in making the CAG’s reports public appeared to show that the Delhi Government was not inclined to make the reports public whereas the public interest demanded the reports to be in public domain before Delhi elections. PTI ADS AMK