A private power distribution company on Tuesday claimed in the Delhi High Court that the AAP Government’s order to get its account audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has no “reason”.
“The order has no indication for auditing. The reason is also missing from the order,” the counsel appearing for Tata Power Delhi Distribution ltd (TPDDl) told the court, adding, “It’s a non-speaking order”.
In its arguments before a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, TPDDl cited Section 20 of the CAG Act to drive home its point that the top auditor was not empowered to audit the accounts of any private firm. It also referred to a 2002 communication of the CAG that said the discoms were not Government entities.
“There is no provision in law with regard to the
audit of private entity,” TPDDl counsel said.
The discoms — TPDDl, BSES Rajdhani Power ltd and BSES Yamuna Power ltd — have challenged the January 7, 2014 order of the AAP Government, which asked CAG to audit their accounts. The arguments, which remained inconclusive, will resume on Wednesday.
The court was hearing a batch of petitions, including appeals filed by three private discoms against the order of a single judge refusing to stay the Delhi Government’s decision to have CAG audit of their accounts. Apart from the pleas, the bench is also hearing a PIl filed by NGO United RWAs Joint Action (URJA) seeking an audit of the discoms’ accounts by CAG.
The discoms have moved the larger bench of the court against its single judge’s order of January 24, last year, refusing to stall CAG audit and asking them to “fully cooperate with CAG in the audit process”.
On July 22, last year, TPDDl had contended in court that AAP had pre-decided to have CAG audit of private discoms and its Government later violated statutory and constitutional provisions to fulfil 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 the Delhi Government.
In their pleas, the discoms have contended that the power hitter AAP’s decision asking CAG to audit the power companies’ accounts is “patently” illegal and a ‘power trip’.