NEW DELHI: Lieutenant Governor (L-G) VK Saxena has written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urging him to table five CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) reports pertaining to the state finances, that are pending with the Finance department of the city government, before the Delhi Assembly.
Saxena requested Kejriwal to advise the finance minister to “expeditiously process” the important reports concerning the finances of the city government so that they can be tabled in the ongoing budget session of the Delhi Assembly.
L-G Saxena underscored the legal obligations outlined in the Section 48 of the GNCTD Act, 1991, which stipulates that CAG reports pertaining to the state treasury must be submitted to the L-G for presentation before the Legislative Assembly. Further, the L-G has drawn attention to Article 151 of the Constitution, which mandates the L-G to facilitate the presentation of CAG reports before the legislature.
“Your attention is drawn to the fact that five reports of CAG pertaining to State Finances, have been pending for consideration of the Minister of Finance, since August 2023,” the letter said.
The letter said that the L-G secretariat received copies of communications from controller of accounts to the finance minister’s secretary, following a letter by principal accountant general audit, Delhi, requesting consideration of the five CAG reports and one city government accounts to be cleared by the finance minister and sent to the L-G for it to be laid before the assembly.
“Reports of the CAG are constitutionally-mandated, independent and impartial assessments of the performance of the government and in many ways a guidance document for governments to assess their financial performance, the gains obtained through revenue and help the government invoke corrective measures where necessary,” the letter read.
“It is an obligation of the government to share with the people, an objective account of its performance, revenue and expenditure of public funds,” the L-G asserted in his letter.
With the budget session in progress, the L-G asked the CM to ensure the important documents (CAG reports) are ‘expeditiously processed’ and presented before the Assembly.