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Informist, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025

 

 

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court on Friday turned down a petition by Delhi legislators, seeking directives to the assembly speaker to convene a special session of the House for tabling 14 reports of Comptroller and Auditor General of India. One of the 14 reports said the state exchequer incurred a loss of INR 20.26 billion on account of the Delhi government's now retracted excise policy. 

 

 

The high court said that the Supreme Court has already held that the power to reconvene sittings of the legislative assembly after it has been adjourned sine die without prorogation, is the sole prerogative of the Speaker. It is not permissible for the court to issue directions regarding this, said Justice Sachin Datta.

 

"Importantly, it has been pointed out 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," said the court. In such a situation, it would be impractical to hold a special sitting of the assembly, the court added. The legislative assembly elections for Delhi are scheduled for Feb. 5.

 

Once the Comptroller and Auditor General reports are tabled in the house, they have to be examined and scrutinised by the public accounts committee, as contemplated under Rule 192 of the Rules of Procedure, said the court. Given that the legislative assembly of Delhi is at the fag end of its current term, the examination and scrutiny by the committee will now take place only after the newly elected assembly pursuant to the upcoming elections is re-convened, said the court.

 

Accordingly, the high court said that once the legislative assembly is constituted and summoned pursuant to upcoming elections, requisite steps shall be taken by the government of Delhi, under Rule 24, 27, and 289 of the Rules of Procedure, for the purpose of laying the Comptroller and Auditor General Reports, as expeditiously as possible. 

 

"It is quite evident that there has been an inordinate delay on the part of the respondents/Government of NCT of Delhi in taking requisite steps for laying the CAG Reports before the legislative assembly," said Justice Datta. The sequence of events and the timelines reveal a disdainful disregard by the government of Delhi of its constitutional obligations, said the court. 

The court was hearing a petition by Vijender Gupta, Bharatiya Janata Party member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly, and six other members seeking a direction to the speaker to summon the House for a special sitting. They also sought a direction to the speaker to table the comptroller and auditor general's reports in the assembly in a time-bound manner.  

Meanwhile, a public interest petition was also filed before the division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela seeking publication of the reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in the light of impending Delhi elections and voter' right to know. The high court will hear this case on Feb. 3.  End

 

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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