Delhi HC raps AAP govt over CAG reports; judge says 'raises doubts about your bonafides'
Justice Sachin Datta, who was hearing a petition by the BJP MLAs, said the state government should have promptly placed the CAG reports before the house for discussion
The Delhi High Court on Monday has raised "doubts on the bonafides" of the state government since it dragged its feet on the issue of tabling of several CAG reports before the assembly.
The government should have promptly placed the CAG reports before the house for discussion, said Justice Sachin Datta, who was hearing a petition by the BJP MLAs.
"The way you dragged your feet raises doubts about your bonafides. You should have promptly forwarded the reports to the speaker," Justice Datta said, "and had a discussion in the house. The timeline is stark. See the way you have been dragging your feet is something that is unfortunate."
In its reply to the court, the Delhi government questioned how assembly session could be held with elections coming up. At the last hearing, the Delhi Assembly Secretariat told the court that tabling the CAG reports on city administration in the assembly wouldn’t serve any purpose since the assembly's term ends in February.
Opposition leader Vijender Gupta and BJP MLAs Mohan Singh Bisht, Om Prakash Sharma, Ajay Kumar Mahawar, Abhay Verma, Anil Kumar Bajpai and Jitendra Mahajan filed the petition last year and sought a direction to the speaker to call a session of the assembly for the purpose of tabling of the CAG reports.
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Political nature
Justice Datta, during the hearing, said calling an assembly session was the prerogative of the speaker and asked if the court could pass a direction to the speaker to do it, especially when the elections were around the corner.
Senior counsel for the government raised an objection with respect to the "political" nature of the petition, and alleged the LG office had made the reports public and shared it with newspapers.
"How does it matter?" asked the court. Gupta’s lawyer argued that the issue wasn’t political but about ensuring government accountability and should be resolved before the election announcements.
The hearing is underway.
(With inputs from agencies)
