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Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena has written to Delhi Chief Minister Atishi to convene a special sitting of the Legislative Assembly immediately for laying 14 pending CAG reports on the table of the House.
He has stressed that the session be convened without any further loss of time to ensure adherence to the constitutional mandate. It may be noted that the session of the Delhi Legislative Assembly has not been prorogued as yet. These 14 reports include "Performance Audit on Regulation and Supply of Liquor in Delhi", Performance Audit on Prevention and Mitigation of Vehicular Air Pollution in Delhi", "Public Health Infrastructure and Management of Health Services", "Performance Audit Report on Functioning of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC)", apart from revenue, expenditure and financial audits of the government, pertain to the period when Arvind Kejriwal was the Chief Minister of Delhi and have been lying pending since year-and-a-half in many instances. The LG has given his formal consent for tabling of all these reports. The communication to this effect signed by the LG said the he has recommended placing a copy of the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India relating to the Government of NCT of Delhi before the Legislative Assembly of NCT of Delhi in pursuance of Section 48 of Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991. The LG noted that the CAG reports are vital to assess the financial and administrative health of Government in a democratic set up. An official release said that the reports are the touchstone of transparency in governance. It said adherence to the constitutional mandate of placing such reports on the Table of the Legislature from time to time expeditiously is an essential ingredient of a functional democracy to ensure full disclosure and to seek guidance of the Apex Legislative Body for taking course corrections where necessary. These reports were received by the Government from CAG on different dates in the past. "My Secretariat also forwarded the communication received from CAG on these reports to the Finance Department on various dates for necessary action. Despite my communications to the then Chief Minister on February 22, 2024 and the incumbent Chief Minister on November 29, 2024, no action was taken by either of the Chief Ministers. Even a Writ Petition No. 15341 of 2024 in the matter of Vijender Gupta and Ors. Vs GNCTD and Ors. is pending before the High Court of Delhi seeking directions to the Government to lay the CAG Reports before the Legislative Assembly of Delhi," the LG said, according to the release. It said that by not laying the CAG Reports promptly before the Legislative Assembly, "the Government has failed to discharge its constitutional obligation and has deprived the members of Legislative Assembly from discharging its core duty of exercising legislative control over the executive". (ANI)
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