Delhi High Court refuses BJP leader’s plea to direct sitting of Assembly for tabling CAG reports

Delhi High Court refuses to summon special Assembly sitting for tabling CAG reports, citing constitutional mandate and government delay.

The Delhi High Court on Friday (January 24, 2025) refused a petition by several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs that the 14 CAG reports linked to policy initiatives of the Delhi Government be tabled at the State Assembly.

Justice Sachin Datta, however, observed that there was an “inordinate delay” on part of the Delhi Government in the matter. It said that the tabling of the audit reports was mandatory under the Constitution.

Opposition leader Vijender Gupta and BJP MLAs Mohan Singh Bisht, Om Prakash Sharma, Ajay Kumar Mahawar, Abhay Verma, Anil Kumar Bajpai and Jitendra Mahajan filed the petition last year and sought a direction to the Speaker to call a sitting of the Assembly for the tabling of the reports.

The Speaker’s counsel and the Delhi Government opposed the passing of such a direction by the court and said there was no urgency to table the reports at this stage when the Assembly election is due in two weeks.

In a reply, the Assembly Secretariat said no useful purpose would be served in laying the CAG reports before the Assembly when its tenure will end in February and no judicial order can be passed to the Speaker in the matters of internal functioning of the Legislative Assembly.

During a hearing held on January 13, 2025, the court said the CAG reports should have been promptly placed before the Assembly for discussion and the State Government “dragging its feet” on the issue raised “doubts on its bonafides.”