Delhi power discoms not cooperating in audit, CAG to court

The Delhi High Court was Monday told by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that the three power discoms in the capital were not co-operating in audit of their finances. Saying that audit is a serious issue, the discoms had asked the court to examine the legality of an earlier order by a single judge declining to stay a Delhi government order to audit their accounts.

The three discoms were not providing documents to enable carrying out of their audit, counsel for CAG told the division bench of Acting Chief Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul.

The three discoms had appealed to the division bench against the Jan 24 order of a single judge refusing to stay a Delhi government directive for a CAG audit of their finances. The discoms said the audit was ordered by the government with a "predetermined mind".

The three discoms - Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd., BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna - which supply power to consumers in Delhi, alleged the Delhi government's order was a "political ploy". They said that the audit order by the government was passed with "malice in law", without giving the discoms an opportunity to be heard.

The Delhi government, however, had earlier argued that the government had 49 percent share in each of the three discoms.

Lt Governor Najeeb Jung had Jan 1 directed the CAG to undertake the audit.

Then chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, soon after assuming office Dec 28, met CAG Shashi Kant Sharma and urged him to audit the three private firms. He alleged that the discoms were overcharging the consumers.

On Jan 7, the Delhi government ordered an audit of the discoms by the CAG. The discoms then filed writ petitions before the Delhi High Court.

The court now posted the matter for March 24.