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Discoms move High Court against audit by CAG

The Capital’s three power distribution companies — BSES Rajdhani, BSES Yamuna and Tata Power
Delhi Distribution Limited — on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court challenging the Arvind Kejriwal Government’s decision to get their accounts audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
The companies challenged the Government’s decision to get their accounts audited from 2002 when the task of power distribution in the Capital was transferred to them by taking it away from the Delhi Vidyut Board by the then Sheila Dikshit Government to check power thefts and transmission losses.
“Beyond the jurisdiction of CAG”
The petitioners submitted that they were beyond the jurisdiction of CAG, adding that they were ready to get their accounts scrutinised in any manner under the law applicable to them.
They further submitted that the CAG-empanelled auditors had been auditing their accounts for the past 10 years. And even the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) had done its special audit several times under provisions of the Electricity Act 2003.
These power distribution companies are joint ventures, with the government having 49 per cent stake in each and 51 per cent with them.
They claimed that they had a strong and transparent system of auditing and their accounts were audited both by unimpeachable external and internal auditors.
Their accounts were certified by their Board of Directors which had Delhi Chief Secretary, Finance Secretary and Power Secretary as its members, the petitioners submitted.
After having been certified by the Board of Directors, the audited accounts are submitted to DERC for prudence check. Noted audit companies like PricewaterhouseCoopers and CRISIL helped DERC in this task, the petitioners claimed.
“85 per cent of expenses already being audited”
They further submitted that 85 per cent of their expenses were already being audited by CAG.
They added that their total spending on purchasing power from public sector power companies were also being audited by the federal auditor at rates fixed by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and DERC. The petitions are likely to come up for hearing in a couple of days.
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