Delhi HC rejects plea on tabling CAG report in Assembly, says 'can't interfere'

synopsis

The Delhi High Court delivered its judgment on a petition submitted by Opposition MLAs, requesting an assembly session to present the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports on Delhi's governance on Friday (Jan 24). The court said that it cannot interfere in the functioning of the house. 

The Delhi High Court declined to issue an order to the Speaker to convene a special session of the Delhi Legislative Assembly to present the CAG reports, citing an "inordinate delay" by the Atishi Marlena-led government in tabling the report. However, the court pointed out that the Atishi Marlena-led government had delayed tabling the report, which was released on January 12, before the Assembly.

Justice Sachin Datta stated that the Court was not inclined to grant the request for a special sitting to table the reports. However, the Court instructed that once the new Legislative Assembly is formed and convened after the upcoming elections, the Delhi Government should take the necessary steps to present the CAG Reports as quickly as possible.

The Court noted that the Delhi Government had not acted promptly in this matter, and it was only after the petition was filed that the CAG Reports were sent to the Secretary of the Legislative Assembly.

The petition, filed last year by Opposition leader Vijender Gupta and BJP MLAs Mohan Singh Bisht, Om Prakash Sharma, Ajay Kumar Mahawar, Abhay Verma, Anil Kumar Bajpai, and Jitendra Mahajan, sought an order directing the Speaker to convene the Assembly specifically for the tabling of the CAG reports.

The counsel representing the Speaker and the Delhi government had opposed the court issuing such a directive, arguing that there was no urgency to table the reports, especially with the assembly elections approaching soon.

In its response, the Assembly Secretariat stated that presenting the CAG reports at this stage, with the assembly's term ending in February, would serve no meaningful purpose. It further emphasized that judicial orders could not be issued to the Speaker regarding the internal functioning of the legislative assembly, according to PTI.