The Delhi High Court on Monday rapped the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government over its handling of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report.
A single-judge bench of Justice Sachin Datta said that the government "dragged its feet" to prevent the Assembly session from taking place.
"The way you have dragged your feet raises doubts about your bona fides. You should have promptly forwarded the reports to the Speaker and initiated a discussion in the House," the court said.
It said that the Delhi government's delay in sending the CAG reports to the Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and the way the matter was handled by the government raised "doubts about your (the AAP's) bona fides".
In response to the court, the AAP government questioned how an Assembly session could be convened with elections approaching so closely. The High Court will hear the matter in detail at 2.30 pm on Monday.
Notably, during the last hearing, the Delhi Assembly Secretariat had informed the Court that tabling the CAG reports in the Assembly would serve no purpose, as its tenure ends in February. This statement was made in response to a petition filed by seven BJP MLAs seeking the tabling of the CAG reports in the Assembly.
Recently, a leaked CAG report highlighting numerous irregularities in the planning, tendering, and execution of renovation works at the Delhi Chief Minister's residence, sparked a political debate ahead of the Assembly elections. Initially approved at Rs 7.61 crore in 2020, the cost of the project rose to Rs 33.66 crore by April 2022 - a 342 per cent increase over the original estimate.
The report also revealed a revenue loss of Rs 2,026 crore to the exchequer due to alleged irregularities in the implementation of the now-scrapped liquor policy of Delhi.
