LG seeks special Assembly session on CAG reports, informs Delhi HC

The Lieutenant Governor (LG) on Monday informed the Delhi High Court that Comptroller and Auditor General of India (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.

Earlier, Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG), Vinai Kumar Saxena has written to Chief Minister Atishi to convene a special sitting of the Legislative Assembly of Delhi immediately for laying the 14 pending CAG Reports on the Table of the House. Giving details, officials said Saxena has stressed that the session be convened without any further loss of time to ensure adherence to the constitutional mandate.  It may be noted that the session of the Delhi Legislative Assembly has not been prorogued as yet.

All these 14 Reports that include “Performance Audit on Regulation and Supply of Liquor in Delhi”, Performance Audit on Prevention and Mitigation of Vehicular Air Pollution in Delhi”, “Public Health Infrastructure and Management of Health Services”, “Performance Audit Report on Functioning of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC)”, apart from Revenue, Expenditure and Financial Audits of the Government, pertain to the period when Arvind Kejriwal was the Chief Minister of Delhi and have been lying pending since as long as an year and half in many instances. The LG has given his formal consent for tabling of all these Reports and the communication to this effect signed by the LG reads:

“In pursuance of Section 48 of Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, I, Vinai Kumar Saxena, Lieutenant Governor Delhi recommend placing a copy of Report No. _____ of ______for the year ending_________ of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India relating to the Government of NCT of Delhi before the Legislative Assembly of NCT of Delhi.”

Dealing with every report on a separate file, the LG has uniformly noted that, “The CAG reports are vital to assess the financial and administrative health of Government in a democratic set up.  These Reports are the touchstone of transparency in governance.  Adherence to the constitutional mandate of placing such reports on the Table of the Legislature from time to time expeditiously is an essential ingredient of a functional democracy to ensure full disclosure and to seek guidance of the Apex Legislative Body for taking course corrections where necessary.”