New Delhi: Lieutenant governor VK Saxena on Wednesday urged chief minister Atishi to call a special session of Delhi Assembly on Dec 19 and 20 to table 14 pending Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports in the House.
In a letter to CM, LG said he would not ordinarily indicate a timeframe for calling a special sitting of the House at such short notice, but the situation was “extraordinary” since the term of the current assembly and elected govt was set to expire in Feb 2025. “I am sure that as leader of the House, you would step in to maintain the sanctity of legislative accountability,” LG wrote.
No immediate reaction was available from AAP govt. Sources, however, said LG’s directions were not binding, and CM-led council of ministers might choose not to call an assembly session.
LG informed Delhi High Court on Monday that all 14 CAG reports were approved and forwarded to CM Atishi’s office with a note that a special assembly session should be convened “immediately”. The submission was made in response to a plea filed by seven BJP legislators seeking directions to forward the CAG reports to LG for tabling before the assembly.
In his communication to CM, Saxena stated that it was a constitutional obligation of an elected govt to lay such reports before the legislative assembly, as part of the framework of accountability envisioned by the framers of the Constitution. LG said he was sure that as elected CM, Atishi would be conscious of the significance of statutory audits on the functioning of various departments undertaken by CAG.
“There was a conscious and deliberate lapse on the part of elected govt to not lay reports over the last two years. I have been consistently writing to you and your predecessor, reminding you of the criticality of this fundamental obligation,” LG wrote.
Referring to the BJP MLAs approaching the high court for the “enforcement” of their constitutional rights, so “flagrantly violated” by elected govt, and to seek directions to the elected dispensation to table the reports, Saxena said it was an “irredeemable blow” to the majesty of the legislature. “It was only after a judicial notice that you chose to place these reports before me for approval… that too on the eve of the hearing of the petition by high court,” Saxena said.
He added that the audit reports were returned to CM’s office on Dec 13 itself with the approval for laying by calling a special sitting of the House, and a Delhi govt counsel had even assured HC that the documents would be forwarded to the speaker within two-three days.
Being the leader of the house, CM, in consultation with the speaker, may convene a special sitting for tabling the reports, as the House was only adjourned sine die and not prorogued yet, Saxena pointed out.
He added that Delhi govt called only five sessions of assembly in five years of this term, while any legislature, including Parliament, convenes at least three sessions in a year, apart from special sessions.
