BJP accuses AAP govt of sitting on 14 CAG reports, demands Delhi Assembly session

New Delhi: The BJP legislators on Friday accused the AAP government of withholding over 14 CAG reports and demanded an immediate session of the outgoing Delhi Assembly to table them.

Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta, addressing a joint press conference, alleged that the AAP government had sent 10 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports to the Lieutenant Governor only after the BJP leaders moved court. However, four reports remain pending, he claimed.

The Delhi government has still not sent four reports of the CAG to the Lieutenant Governor (LG) to keep it away from public domain, he said.

Gupta further alleged that the government had given written assurance to the Delhi High Court that the session held between November 29 to December 4 was not the final of the outgoing 7th Delhi Assembly.

The Assembly will complete its five year tenure in February 2025 and the polls for the 70 member Assembly are likely to be announced soon.

"The AAP government led by Arvind Kejriwal is the only government in the country that has tried to resist tabling the reports in the Assembly," the leader of opposition said.

He said that the AAP government gave written assurance to the court that the session held earlier in December was not the last and demanded the the House is convened immediately with the reports tabled in the Assembly.

On Thursday, the AAP government informed the Delhi High Court that Chief Minister Atishi, who holds the finance portfolio, has sent the CAG reports on liquor duty, pollution and finance to the LG for placement in the assembly.

However, the Delhi government's counsel clarified that he did not have formal written instructions on it and sought time to place on record the developments in the matter.

The counsel confirmed that 10 files were received by the LG office on the night of December 11 for tabling in the legislative assembly.

The petition was filed by the BJP MLAs including Gupta, Mohan Singh Bisht, Om Prakash Sharma, Ajay Kumar Mahawar, Abhay Verma, Anil Kumar Bajpai and Jitendra Mahajan.

It was contended by them that the government was acting in breach of its statutory duty by failing to "promptly" lay crucial CAG reports on various issues such as pollution and liquor before the assembly.

The CAG reports from 2017-2018 to 2021-2022 pertained to various subjects related to Delhi government and its functioning.