Inordinate Delay On Part Of Delhi Government In Tabling CAG Reports; Delhi High Court Refuses To Pass Directions For Special Sitting Of Assembly

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The Delhi High Court has refused to pass directions for special sitting of assembly as there was an inordinate delay on part of Delhi Government in tabling Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Reports.

The bench of Justice Sachin Datta has observed that the term of the current Legislative Assembly is about to expire and elections for the purpose of electing the next Legislative Assembly, are barely a few days away. In such a situation, it would be impracticable to hold a special sitting of the assembly. This is also on account of the fact that once the CAG reports are tabled in the House, they have to be examined and scrutinised by the PAC, as contemplated under Rule 192 of the Rules of Procedure.

The bench noted that the Legislative Assembly is at the fag end of its current term, the examination and scrutiny by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will now take place only after the newly elected Assembly (pursuant to the upcoming elections) is re-convened.

The petition was filed by the BJP leaders namely Vijender Gupta and BJP MLAs Mohan Singh Bisht, Om Prakash Sharma, Ajay Kumar Mahawar, Abhay Verma, Anil Kumar Bajpai and Jitendra Mahajan. 

It is the grievance of the petitioners that despite the order, the CAG Reports continued to languish and till the filing of the present petition, had not even been forwarded to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. It is averred in the petition that the petitioners met the Hon’ble Speaker of the Legislative Assembly on 19.12.2024 and gave a Memorandum, highlighting the assurance given by the Government of NCT of Delhi to send the CAG Reports to the Speaker within 2 to 3 days and urged him to convene a special sitting of the Legislative Assembly for laying the concerned CAG Audit Reports in the Delhi Legislative Assembly. 

The Speaker informed the petitioners that he was not yet in receipt of the CAG Reports. Consequently, the present petition came to be filed.

The petitioner contended that the departments’ failure to table the 14 CAG Reports before the Legislative Assembly constitutes a blatant violation of mandatory constitutional and statutory obligations. Further, by withholding the Reports and not submitting them in a timely manner to the Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor as required under Article 151(2) of the Constitution of India and Section 48 of the Government of NCT of Delhi Act, 1991, the respondents have breached their duty to ensure financial transparency and accountability.

The petitioners emphasized the urgency of the matter given the upcoming Assembly Elections in Delhi and the imminent expiry of the duration of the current Legislative Assembly. Laying of the CAG Reports in the Legislative Assembly is not merely a procedural but a substantive, legal and constitutional mandate for which appropriate directions/Mandamus can be issued by this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

The court while not accepting the plea of the BJP leaders, directed that once the Legislative Assembly is constituted and summoned pursuant to upcoming elections, requisite steps shall be taken by the Respondent/ Govt. of NCT of Delhi, inter-alia under Rule 24, 27 and 289 of the Rules of Procedure, for the purpose of laying the CAG Reports, as expeditiously as possible.

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Case Details

Case Title: Vijender Gupta & Ors. Versus Government Of National Capital Territory Of Delhi & Ors.

Case No.:  W.P.(C) 18021/2024

Date: 24.01.2025

Counsel For Petitioner: Mr. Mahesh Jethmalani, Sr. Advocate along with Mr. Jayant Mehta, Sr. Advocate and Mr. Pavan Narang, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Anil Soni, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Neeraj, Mr. Satya Ranjan Swain, Mr. Ravi Sharma, Mr. Ajay Awasthi, Mr. Kautilya Birat, Mr. Sanjay Pal, Mr. Rudra Paliwal, Mr. Ankush Kapoor, Mr. Soumyadip Chakraborty, Mr. Sachin Saraswat, Mr. Vaibhav Thaledi, Mr. Himanshu Sethi, Mr. Vikramaditya Sanghi and Mr. Sushil Kr. Pandey

Counsel For Respondent: Mr. Rahul Mehra, Sr. Advocate along with Mr. Rishikesh Kumar, ASC, Mr. Divyam Nandrajog, Ms. Sheenu Priya, Mr. Vikash Saini, Mr. Atik Gill and Mr. Sudhir, Advocate for GNCTD for R-1 and R-2.

Mr. Sudhir Nandrajog, Sr. Advocate along with Ms. Ankita Singh, Mr. Udit Malik, ASC, Ms. Palak Sharma, Mr. C. Velmurugan and Ms. Rima Rao, Advocates. for R-3. Ms. Bani Dikshit, Mr. Uddhav Khanna, Mr. Anirudh Sharma, Mr. Dhruva Vig and Ms. Vridhi Kashyap,

Mariya Paliwala
Mariya Paliwalahttps://jurishour.in/
Mariya is the Senior Editor at JurisHour. She has 5+ years of experience on covering tax litigation stories from the Supreme Court, High Courts and various tribunals including CESTAT, ITAT, NCLAT, NCLT, etc. Mariya graduated from MLSU Law College, Udaipur (Raj.) with B.A.LL.B. and also holds an LL.M. She started as a freelance tax reporter in the leading online legal news companies like LiveLaw & Taxscan.

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