Delhi: The fate of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, regarding potential criminal charges based on the CAG reports recently made public, hangs in the balance as a decision will be taken in three months, following the submission of a report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Two reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) have been presented in the Delhi Assembly — one on health and another on excise. Both the reports, “as per established parliamentary procedure”, have been forwarded to the PAC that will submit its report within a period of three months.
The CAG on Excise report was sent to PAC on February 27, while the second on health was sent on Monday.
“So, if things happen on time, we can expect that the observations will be there by May-end or the beginning of June. If there is any need for criminal action against the previous government, it will be taken based on the PAC report,” a BJP leader told News18.
The leader added that the CAG report had shown the real face of AAP and how their actions were not pro-people.
On Monday, the Delhi Assembly witnessed a detailed discussion on the CAG report on health.
Speaker Vijender Gupta, in the concluding remarks, said serious irregularities in Delhi’s health department had been exposed in the CAG report.
The Speaker ruled that the PAC of the House should prioritise the examination of the CAG report and submit its findings within three months.
The Assembly Secretariat was also asked to immediately forward the report to the health department, which must submit its Action Taken Note within one month.
Fourteen more reports are pending to be tabled in the House.
CAG on Health
The report, which was tabled in the House on February 28, covered the period from 2016-17 to 2021-22, during which the AAP government was in power in Delhi. The report pointed to several significant shortcomings and irregularities, including severe shortage of healthcare personnel, unavailability of essential medicines and equipment, many hospitals lacked the necessary medicines and medical equipment required for patient treatment.
The report also highlighted poor ambulance services as most CATS ambulances were found to be operating without the essential life-saving equipment.
The health department also reportedly failed to utilise 15 plots of land that had been specifically acquired for healthcare facilities.
Also, a significant portion of the allocated budget remained unutilised each year. Notably, 78.41 per cent of the health infrastructure budget in 2018-19 was left unspent, as per the CAG.
While the BJP MLAs used the report to attack AAP, the latter said the reports acknowledged the party’s work.
AAP MLA Gopal Rai stated that even the CAG report acknowledges that among all state healthcare models in India, Delhi’s healthcare system ranked first. He said the AAP government took significant steps to provide quality healthcare to Delhiites, introducing Mohalla Clinics for the first time in the country.
CAG on EXCISE
On February 25, AAP’s Leader of Opposition Atishi said the CAG report validated the party’s long-standing claims of large-scale corruption under the old excise policy. The report highlights how profits were manipulated by underreporting 28 per cent of liquor sales, while unchecked smuggling from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana drained Delhi’s revenue.
Last week, News18 had reported that Gupta had ordered further investigation into the matter “so that the guilty are punished” after the assembly held a detailed discussion on the CAG report on the now-scrapped excise policy.
The CAG report on Excise showed that the now-scrapped Delhi Liquor Policy has resulted in revenue loss of about Rs 2,002 crore to the government, including around Rs 890 crore due to not retendering the surrendered retail licenses and an additional Rs 941 crore due to exemptions which had to be given to the zonal licensees.
