Delhi High Court Refuses To Order Special Sitting Of Legislative Assembly To Table CAG Reports

The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to direct a special sitting of the Delhi Legislative Assembly to table 14 reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).Justice Sachin Datta said that the Court was not inclined to accept the prayer of seeking the special sitting to table the reports in question.However, the Court directed that once the Legislative Assembly is constituted and summoned pursuant to upcoming elections, requisite steps shall be taken by the Delhi Government for laying the CAG Reports, as expeditiously as possible.The Court observed that there was an “inordinate delay” on part of the Delhi Government in forwarding the reports before the Legislative Assembly. The Court also underscored that laying of the CAG reports before the Legislative Assembly is mandatory Constitutional imperative.“It is quite evident that there has been an inordinate delay on the part of the respondents/Government of NCT of Delhi in taking requisite steps for laying the CAG Reports before the Legislative Assembly. The sequence of events and the timelines reveal a disdainful disregard by the respondents/Government of NCT of Delhi of its constitutional obligation/s in this regard, as set out in the judgments of the Supreme Court in Association of Unified Tele Services Providers and Others (supra) and Arvind Gupta (supra),” the Court said.It added that the Delhi Government did not act with alacrity in the matter and it was only after the petition was filed that the CAG Reports were forwarded to the Secretary of Legislative Assembly.The plea was filed by Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Legislative Assembly Vijender Gupta and six BJP MLAs Mohan Singh Bisht, Om Prakash Sharma, Ajay Kumar Mahawar, Abhay Verma, Anil Kumar Bajpai and Jitendra Mahajan.The verdict was reserved after Justice Datta heard Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani for the petitioners as well as the counsels for Delhi Government and the Speaker of Legislative Assembly. During the hearings, the Court had remarked that the Delhi Government dragged its feet on placing the CAG reports before the Legislative Assembly, calling the situation unfortunate. The Court had also said that calling for a session was the authority of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and questioned if a mandamus could be issued to the Speaker to do the same especially when the elections were around the corner.The plea sought a direction to the Delhi Government and Chief Minister to forward the 14 CAG reports to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and a further direction to the Speaker to summoning a special sitting and to table the reports before the Assembly in a time bound manner. The petitioners had last year moved a plea seeking a direction to the Delhi government to send the CAG reports pertaining to "Finance, pollution, administration and liquor" to Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena for presenting the same before the Legislative Assembly.In the fresh petition, the petitioners referred to a statement made by the Delhi Government on December 16, 2024, that the reports shall be forwarded to the Speaker within two to three days.The plea claimed that as on December 12, 2024, the CAG reports were not received by the Speaker which is a clear violation of the statement given before Court.Title: VIJENDER GUPTA & ORS v. GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL CAPITAL TERRITORY OF DELHI & ORSCitation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 91click here to read order

Delhi High Court Refuses To Order Special Sitting Of Legislative Assembly To Table CAG Reports

Nupur Thapliyal

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