- Monday, January 13, 2025
Justice Sachin Datta, who was hearing a petition by the BJP MLAs, said the government should have promptly placed the CAG reports on the ongoing liquor scam before the house for discussion
By: India Weekly
THE Delhi High Court on Monday said the state government dragged its feet on the issue of tabling of several CAG reports on the ongoing liquor scam before the assembly, rasing “doubts on its bona fides”.
Justice Sachin Datta, who was hearing a petition by the BJP MLAs, said the government should have promptly placed the CAG reports before the house for discussion.
The alleged scam had kicked up a political storm and resulted in the arrests of former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and senior leader Manish Sisodia.
“The way you dragged your feet raises doubts about your bona fides. 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.”
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.
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. The hearing is underway. (Agenceis)
