Approved CAG reports, special sitting of assembly must be called: LG to Delhi HC

New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) The Lieutenant Governor on Monday informed the Delhi High Court that CAG reports related to liquor duty, pollution and finance were approved and he had asked for an immediate special sitting of the assembly.

The LG’s stand came on a petition by Delhi’s opposition leaders seeking the CAG reports to be placed before the assembly by the state government as per the constitutional mandate.

The additional affidavit filed on behalf of the LG, said the finance minister (Delhi chief minister) had caused an “unjustified delay” in the matter, depriving the assembly and the general public of their right to scrutinise the executive actions of the government.

“With an intent to ensure that there is no further delay, the hon’ble LG has promptly and expeditiously accorded his approval under Section 48 of the Government of NCT of Delhi Act, 1991 on December 13, 2024 itself (within less than 48 hours of the files having been received in the LG Office), so that further necessary steps may be taken by the respondent numbers 1 and 2 along with the office of the finance minister for laying all these 14 CAG Reports before the Legislative Assembly of Delhi in the present session,” it said.

Justice Sanjeev Narula was informed by the counsel for the LG that 14 reports were received from the finance minister’ office, after being kept pending “for an inordinate amount of time”.

She said since the session was recently adjourned sine-die, the speaker had the prerogative to “re-call” the assembly session. The assembly session was over on December 4.

The affidavit further said, “The hon’ble Lt Governor, while returning all these CAG reports to chief minister with his approval under Section 48.. has directed that the special sitting of the legislative assembly of Delhi may be convened immediately in accordance with the assembly rules for laying these CAG report on the table of the legislative assembly of Delhi without further loss of time in order to ensure adherence to the constitutional mandate.”

The court observed the issue for which the petition was filed stood redressed and asked them to take appropriate recourse.

“In light of the above, the grievance raised before the court for directing mandamus to respondent number 2 (finance ministry), stands redressed. In view of the above the present proceedings stand closed,” ordered the court.

The senior counsel appearing for the Delhi government said the CAG reports would be forwarded to the speaker.

The petition was filed by leader of opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta and BJP MLAs Mohan Singh Bisht, Om Prakash Sharma, Ajay Kumar Mahawar, Abhay Verma, Anil Kumar Bajpai and Jitendra Mahajan.

The petition, filed by advocates Neeraj and Satya Ranjan Swain, 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 12 CAG reports from 2017-2018 to 2021-2022 were pending with Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, who also holds the finance portfolio. The plea alleged that despite the LG’s repeated requests, these reports were sent to him for tabling before the assembly.