HC prepones hearing of BJP MLAs plea seeking direction to place 12 CAG reports before Assembly

The Delhi High Court on Friday preponed the hearing on a plea filed by several BJP MLAs seeking a direction to place 12 CAG reports related to liquor duty, pollution and finance before the assembly.

 The high court allowed an early hearing application filed by the petitioners and preponed the matter from December 9 to December 2.  "For the reasons stated in the application, the hearing is scheduled for Monday," Justice Sanjeev Narula said.  The application was filed in a pending petition by Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta and Delhi BJP MLAs Mohan Singh Bisht, Om Prakash Sharma, Ajay Kumar Mahawar, Abhay Verma, Anil Kumar Bajpai and Jitendra Mahajan.

 Advocate Anil Soni, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that there was urgency in the matter as the Winter Session of Delhi Legislative Assembly has commenced today and it will continue till December 3.

 The counsel urged the court to prepone the date of hearing in the matter. He said the respondents have not yet filed their replies to the petition. The Delhi government's counsel, however, contended that there was no urgency in the matter.

The high court had on October 29 issued notice to the Delhi government, the office of Legislative Assembly Speaker, the lieutenant governor (LG), the comptroller and auditor general of India (CAG) and the accountant general (audit), Delhi and sought their responses to the petition.  The plea claimed that the CAG reports from 2017-2018 to 2021-2022 were pending with Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, who also holds the finance portfolio.