Delhi High Court closes plea to forward CAG reports

Justice Sanjeev Narula said the MLAs' grievance was resolved after Saxena confirmed returning all CAG reports to CM’s office with approval for a special sitting

The Delhi high court on Monday closed the plea filed by seven Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs seeking directions to forward 12 reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to LG VK Saxena for tabling before the Delhi legislative assembly.

Delhi HC closes plea to forward CAG reports

A bench of justice Sanjeev Narula said that the grievance raised by the MLAs stood redressed, after Saxena submitted that he had returned all the CAG reports to chief minister Atishi’s office with his approval and had directed to immediately convene a special sitting of Delhi Legislative Assembly for tabling the reports. Further, the Delhi government’s counsel Sudhir Nandrajog submitted that the reports received will be forwarded to speaker Ram Niwas Goel in two to three days.

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

In their petition before the high court, the BJP MLAs -- Mohan Singh Bisht, Om Prakash Sharma, Ajay Kumar Mahawar, Abhay Verma, Anil Kumar Bajpai, Vijender Gupta, and Jitendra Mahajan -- argued that the CAG reports for 2017-18 to 2020-21 contained “sensitive” information and were being withheld by Delhi CM Atishi, who also holds the finance portfolio. The petition had alleged that despite repeated requests from the LG, the reports had not been forwarded for tabling before the assembly.

The “deliberate suppression” of these reports, the plea contended, violated democratic principles, hindered proper scrutiny of government actions and expenditures, and raised concerns over financial transparency and accountability. The petition further claimed that BJP MLAs had previously approached the chief minister, chief secretary, and speaker regarding the matter, but no action was taken.

On December 2, the Delhi government had submitted an undertaking before the Delhi high court, affirming that the ongoing session of the Delhi legislative assembly is not the last before its dissolution in February, and that the LG retains the authority to convene subsequent sessions.

On Thursday, the high court had asked Delhi government and LG to file an affidavit indicating the developments that have transpired, after Delhi government’s counsel submitted that the CAG reports were already forwarded and LG’s counsel said that Saxena had received 10 files from Atishi’s office.

In an affidavit filed on December 13, the LG had submitted that 12 CAG reports were received in his office on December 11 and 2 reports were received on December 12. The affidavit added that Saxena had promptly and expeditiously accorded his approval on December 13, within less than 48 hours, with an order for immediately convening a special sitting of the Delhi Legislative Assembly.