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Lovely, while speaking to News18, said AAP was formed from the Anna Andolan with CAG reports as its base. However, the irony was that they sat on these reports for 10 years after coming to power
The delay, Arvinder Singh Lovely said, was done wilfully as the AAP was aware that the CAG will bring out their scams. (PTI)
BJP MLA Arvinder Singh Lovely on Monday accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of talking about BR Ambedkar on one hand and violating the provisions of the Constitution written by him on the other as the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) was tabled in the House after the AAP allegedly held it for over 10 years.
Lovely, while speaking to News18, said AAP was formed from the Anna Andolan with CAG reports as its base. However, the irony was that they sat on these reports for 10 years after coming to power. Lovely said the CAG reports should be presented as and when they are ready, but the AAP, while in power in Delhi, did not do that.
“The tabling of the CAG reports is mandatory. It is not optional. The CAG reports were delayed wilfully. You cannot delay it. It is not a choice but a provision written in the Constitution by Baba Sahib Ambedkar. He brought the provision of CAG and made it mandatory,” he said.
The delay, Lovely said, was done wilfully as the AAP was aware that the CAG will bring out their scams. Singh went on to say that while AAP is claiming that they were going to present the report in the next session, there is no reason that reports were held up for more than 10 years.
The BJP MLA said the reports will come in several volumes and the one on excise policy was just the first part of it.
Lovely added that the role and responsibility of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the assembly should also be checked. The PAC has the responsibility to audit the government’s revenue and expenditure, and to ensure that public funds are used properly.
“Holding up the CAG reports was a violation of the Constitution… The PAC is the most important committee of the House. They had the main responsibility of ensuring CAG reports were implemented. The reality is that those who held the committee chairman post should be held responsible. What have they done? When there were no CAG reports, what were you doing with public money? They should be asked to pay back the money,” he said.
On Tuesday, the first CAG report out of the 14 promised by the BJP from the term of the AAP was tabled. It was related to the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy. The report claimed that the policy resulted in a revenue loss of about Rs 2,002 crore to the government.
