High court asks CAG to file plea against three discoms

The high court here on on Thursday asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to file a fresh plea in support of its claim that three discoms of Tata Power and Reliance ADAG have not been cooperating in auditing of their accounts.

"Whatever you have to say, you say in an application," a bench comprising Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said.

"Twenty persons (of CAG) are still waiting to get the complete documents from the power distribution companies. The auditing process is not moving in last three months," Gaurang Kanth, appearing for the top accounting body, said.

The court then asked the counsel for the CAG to file an application and fixed the matters for hearing on May 12. The bench is hearing a batch of petitions including three appeals filed by Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (TPDDL) and Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group firms, BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd.

The discoms have moved the larger bench of the court against its single judge's January 24 order refusing to stall the CAG audit of the discoms and asking them to cooperate with the top auditor by furnishing the details sought.

Besides these pleas, the court is also hearing a PIL filed by NGO United RWAs Joint Action (URJA), seeking CAG audit of discoms' accounts. Earlier, the court had asked the three discoms to "fully cooperate with the Comptroller and Auditor General in the audit process."

The single judge bench, which did not stay the CAG audit, however, had said that the report of the audit will not be released without the court's permission. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, had said that a DERC audit of a discom had revealed huge amount of fudging of accounts and the NGO had also sought action against those involved.

Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) in a statement said, "We are co-operating fully with the CAG and its claims are incorrect. Out of the 65 requisitions by the auditor, TPDDL has already responded to 57. These 65 requisitions consists of 296 queries out of which 204 have been responded too and 14 requisitions are partially answered as further queries have been raised by the auditors." 

For the pending queries owing to the voluminous nature of data of the requisitions, some amount of time is needed to compile and respond," the company added.