New Delhi [India], December 23 : Several MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the national capital approached the Delhi High Court, seeking directions to the Delhi Government to forward 14 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports to the Speaker of the state Legislative Assembly in a time-bound manner.
The MLA further sought a directive for the Speaker to take all necessary actions under Article 151(2) of the Constitution of India, 1950, to convene a special sitting of the Legislative Assembly and table the reports at the earliest.
The petition emphasized the need for timely fulfilment of constitutional obligations related to the presentation of CAG reports in the Assembly.
The plea stated that after conducting its audit, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) promptly submitted its reports to the Secretary of the Department of Finance, who subsequently forwarded them to the Hon'ble Chief Minister/Finance Minister.
Notably, some reports remained with the Chief Minister/Finance Minister for 490 days, while one report was pending for 497 days.
Due to the delay in placing the 14 CAG reports before the Hon'ble Lieutenant Governor by the Chief Minister/Finance Minister, the Lieutenant Governor was unable to fulfil his constitutional duty of ensuring these reports were laid before the Legislative Assembly.
The matter was mentioned before the bench of Acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru on Monday. After hearing the submissions of Senior Advocate Jayant Mehta, the bench agreed to list the case for Tuesday before the appropriate branch.
The plea stated that the petitioners had made multiple concerted efforts both inside and outside the Legislative Assembly to address the issue. Inside the Assembly, they moved motions such as Calling Attention (Rule 54), Short Duration Discussion (Rule 55), and Notice for Adjournment (Rule 59). Outside the Assembly, they sent communications to the Hon'ble Speaker and raised the matter publicly through protests outside the residence of the Hon'ble Chief Minister/Finance Minister.
The petitioners have consistently called for a special sitting to discuss and deliberate on the CAG reports.
The plea further stated that on December 19, 2024, the petitioners protested against the unconstitutional and undemocratic functioning of the Legislative Assembly. They highlighted the non-submission of the CAG reports and the failure to convene a special sitting, despite the Government of NCT of Delhi's statement before the Hon'ble High Court on December 16, 2024.
On the same day, the petitioners met with the Speaker, and the Delhi Government submitted a memorandum to the Speaker.
The memorandum emphasized the GNCTD's commitment to sending the CAG reports to the Speaker within two or three days and urged the Speaker to convene a special sitting of the Assembly to table the CAG audit reports.