New Delhi : Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain on Monday said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India must probe the three power discoms.
“There must be probe into it. The Delhi Government has invested more than Rs. 5000 crore to these discoms. The CAG is nation’s biggest investigation agency to probe accounts. The DRC is not capable,” Jain told ANI.
“We have filed a petition in the Supreme Court and we will place all the information as to why CAG probe is important,” he added.
The Supreme Court earlier today issued a notice to three power discoms in the national capital, asking them what objection did they have to being audited by the CAG office.
The notice came three days after the AAP Government moved the apex court to challenge a Delhi High Court verdict, which disallowed the CAG audit of power distribution companies in the national capital.
The Delhi High Court had in October last year quashed the government’s decision to get the accounts of the three private power distribution companies scrutinised by the CAG.
The High Court order had then upheld the plea of the three companies — Tata Power Delhi Distribution, BSES Rajdhani Power and BSES Yamuna Power — against the government’s January 7, 2014, order for CAG scrutiny of their accounts.
The three companies had then maintained that they did not come under the purview of the CAG since they were privately owned and run.
According to a CAG petition, the three discoms enjoyed funding of more than Rs. 5,000 crore from the government since their inception on July 1, 2002, and therefore, required to be audited.
“Considering that the discoms enjoyed funding of more than Rs. 5,000 crore from the state by way of equity, debt, transferred assets and also receivables, there is a nexus with the consolidated fund of the state and hence the CAG has a statutory duty to scrutinise the books of accounts of discoms,” the CAG said in its petition before the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court order quashing the federal audit of discoms.
The petition further said, “There were huge discrepancies in their (discoms) accounts and the state government’s decision in seeking an audit of their books was not unjustified.”
The three discoms-Anil Ambani’s ADAG-owned BRPL and BYPL and the Tata-owned NDPL-are joint ventures between these private companies and the Delhi Government.
In each of the discoms, the Delhi Government has a 49 percent stake, while the private entities have a 51 percent stake each. (ANI)