HC adjourns to Sep 19 discoms' plea against CAG audit

The Delhi High Court today adjourned to September 19 a batch of petitions including appeals filed by three private discoms against the order of a single judge refusing to stay Delhi government's decision to have CAG audit of their accounts.
Apart from the pleas of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (TPDDL) and Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group firms, BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd, the bench is also hearing a PIL filed by NGO United RWAs Joint Action, which is seeking an audit of the discoms' accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
"We will list it tentatively for September 19," a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said, after the matter could not be taken today and counsel appearing for the discom sought an early hearing saying "there is some urgency on our part".

The discoms have moved the larger bench of the court against its single judge's order of January 24 refusing to stall their CAG audit and asking them to "fully cooperate with the Comptroller and Auditor General in the audit process".
On July 22, TPDDL had contended in court that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had pre-decided to have CAG audit of private discoms and its government later violated statutory and constitutional provisions to fulfill the poll promise.
The three private firms came into being in 2002 when the then Delhi government decided to privatise power distribution.
Delhi discoms are a 51:49 per cent joint venture between the private companies and Delhi government.

In their pleas, the discoms have contended that Delhi government's decision asking CAG to audit the power companies' accounts is "patently" illegal on many counts.