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Journalism of Courage
Accusing the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government of deliberately sweeping 11 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports under the carpet, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena urged Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Friday to ensure that reports are tabled in the House at the earliest. In response, government sources said the reports will be tabled soon.
In his letter to the Speaker, Saxena said that these reports pertained to multiple issues, including state finances, pollution mitigation, regulation and supply of liquor in Delhi, and Appropriation Accounts, regarding public sector units (PSUs), among others. The Performance Audit Report on Children in Need of Care and Protection, the L-G stated, was also among these reports some of which were “pending with Finance Minister Atishi” since the year 2022.
“By not laying the CAG reports in the Assembly, the Delhi government is avoiding the scrutiny by the Assembly and the public at large, undermining the very basis of democratic accountability,” Saxena wrote, adding that such a “lapse” by the AAP government amounts to “gross dereliction of their constitutional obligations”.
The CAG report on ‘Performance Audit on Regulation and Supply of Liquor in Delhi’ for the period 2017-18 to 2021-22 was sent to the Delhi government on March 4, for instance, Saxena flagged, and was pending with Atishi since April 11.
The CAG report, Saxena underlined, was critical in the wake of the AAP government’s “controversial and failed excise policy” that was later scrapped, following charges of “rampant corruption”. “On July 18, the Controller of Accounts, GNCTD, informed L-G Secretariat that all the above GAG Audit reports are pending with the FM.. On February 22, Saxena had also written to CM Arvind Kejriwal, regarding pendency of these reports and requested him to advise FM to expeditiously lay them before Assembly,” L-G House officials said.
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