Delhi HC refuses to direct sitting of Assembly for tabling CAG reports

The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a petition by seven Bharatiya Janata Party legislators seeking a direction to the Assembly speaker to table fourteen Comptroller and Auditor General reports before the elections next month, reported The Hindu.

Justice Sachin Datta, while refusing to summon a special session, criticised the Delhi government for the “inordinate delay” in fulfilling its constitutional obligation and noted that the CAG reports should have been “promptly placed before the Assembly”.

The court said the government’s delay raised “doubts about its bonafides.”

The petition, filed by BJP legislators Vijender Gupta, Mohan Singh Bisht, Om Prakash Sharma, Ajay Kumar Mahawar, Abhay Verma, Anil Bajpai and Jitendra Mahajan, argued that the reports covered “critical issues including State finances, pollution mitigation, liquor regulation, public sector appropriation accounts, and a performance audit on children in need of care and protection”, reported The Indian Express.

The petitioners claimed the delay violated provisions of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act and the Comptroller and Auditor General Act.

The court ruled that judicial intervention could not extend to procedural aspects, such as the timing of convening Assembly sessions. Justice Datta emphasised that summoning the Assembly was the prerogative of the speaker, citing Supreme Court precedents.

In its defence, the Assembly Secretariat stated that the tenure of the current…

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