The Delhi government on Friday moved the Supreme Court to challenge the Delhi high court verdict that disallowed CAG audit of power distribution companies in the national Capital, an official said.
The matter is likely to be heard by the Apex Court on January 18, said the official.
In October last year, the high court quashed the Delhi government’s decision to get the accounts of the Capital’s three private power distribution companies scrutinised by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.
The high court order upheld the plea of Tata Power Delhi Distribution, BSES Rajdhani Power and BSES Yamuna Power against the Delhi government’s order dated January 7, 2014, for CAG scrutiny of their accounts.
They were private companies and not government entities and as such did not come within the CAG purview, the three companies maintained.
Last year, the AAP government had ordered an audit into the accounts of the discoms amid allegations that they had been fudging records and showing inflated expenditure.
During the Delhi election, AAP had promised audit of discoms if it came to power. Following its victory in December 2013, the state government had ordered a CAG audit. The final report is yet to come out.
“The findings of the CAG draft report, which had been widely reported in the media and contents of which have not been denied by any party, made it crystal clear that discoms indulged in a mega financial scam. The discoms inflated their regulatory asset claims by thousands of crores. The CAG draft findings had put this exaggerated claim at Rs 8,000 crore,” Delhi’s power minister Satyendar Jain claimed.