Delhi HC to hear Tuesday BJP MLAs' plea over placing CAG reports in assembly

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday agreed to list for October 29 a plea by BJP MLAs seeking a direction to the city government to send 12 CAG reports on liquor duty, pollution and finance to the lieutenant governor for placing those before the assembly.

The petition was mentioned for listing by a senior counsel appearing for the petitioners before a bench headed by Chief Justice Manmohan.

"Tomorrow," the bench, also comprising Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, said.

Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta, along with other BJP MLAs Mohan Singh Bisht, Om Prakash Sharma, Ajay Kumar Mahawar, Abhay Verma, Anil Kumar Bajpai and Jitendra Mahajan, filed the petition on Saturday.

The plea claimed that CAG reports from 2017-2018 to 2021-2022 were pending with Chief Minister Atishi, who also holds the finance portfolio, and despite the LG's repeated requests, the documents have not been sent to him for tabling before the assembly.

The petition, filed by advocates Neeraj and Satya Ranjan Swain, said that in the past, the BJP MLAs had approached the chief minister, the chief secretary and the speaker about it but no action has been taken till date.

"This deliberate suppression of vital information not only violates democratic principles but also prevents proper scrutiny of government action and expenditures, raising serious questions about the government's financial proprietary, transparency and accountability," it submitted.

"Issue an appropriate writ in the nature of mandamus/certiorari directing the respondent no.2 (Department of Finance) to send a proposal to respondent no.4 (LG) for exercising his duties under Article 151(2) of the Constitution of India, 1950, Regulation 210(1) of the Regulations on Audit and Accounts, 2007 and Section 48 of the Government of National Capital Territory Act, 1991," it said.