High Court dismisses PIL seeking “Special Audit” of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee & GHPS Society

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking directions to conduct a “special audit” of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and the Guru Harkrishan Public School (GHPS) Society by Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).

Noting that PIL is not maintainable as there is already an applicable law, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act with the complete methodology and mechanism for carrying out audit by Chartered Accountants, a division bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Saurabh Banerjee said, “As there is already an existing law, the CAG Act, wherein the C&AG cannot voluntarily carry out an audit on its own save and except as provided in the CAG Act”.

The bench also noted that the C&AG can carry out the audit of accounts of certain authorities or bodies after following due process of law provided in Section 20 of The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (Duties, Powers, and Conditions of Service) Act, 197.“Thus, this Court cannot direct C&AG to conduct a “Special Audit” of all the financial affairs of the Committee and the GHPS Society”, the court said.

The petitioners sought a declaration of Section 29 of the DSG Act as unconstitutional and also sought directions to the Committee and the GHPS society to ensure conducting the yearly audit of the entire financial accounts of the Committee and GHPS Society through the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

While dismissing the plea, the court stated that both the Gurdwara Committee and the GHPS Society are formed and governed by the DSG Act and are organizations constituted by voluntary contribution and donation from the public with no allocation from the Consolidated Fund of India i.e., they are neither a part of nor belonging to nor controlled by the Government of India. It added that both are formed and governed by the DSG Act, a central piece of legislation that makes no provision for the C&AG to conduct an audit.

Moreover, the bench noted that under Rule 15A of The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (Election of Pro-Tempore Chairman, President, other Office Bearers, and Members of the Executive Board) Rules 1974, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi (Administrator) and the Directorate of Gurdwara Elections Government of NCT of Delhi are to conduct an investigation into any allegations of financial irregularities.

The court opined, that since the petitioners made no complaint(s) of any kind agitating their grievances as raised in the present PIL prior to its filing, the petitioners cannot be allowed to agitate their grievances directly through the present PIL.

“When there is a specific remedy provided under a Statute (DSG Act herein) governing the disputes raised before a Court of Law (this Court herein), no party (petitioners herein) can be allowed to choose an alternative forum of convenience for agitating grievance(s). Both, Committee and the GHPS Society, are specialized organizations formed under a special, DSG Act. Petitioners cannot choose to create an alternate route when there is already an existing prescribed route”, the court said.

Conclusively, the bench stated that it is needless to say that the petitioners’ best case is qua mismanagement and illegal abstraction by the Committee and the GHPS Society, for which they did not follow due process of law (Rule 15A, DSGMC Rules) and instead chose the wrong forum for redressal of their grievances (Section 32(c), DSG Act). Accordingly, the court dismissed the PIL stating that it was "neither maintainable in law nor on facts".

Case Title: Bhupinder Singh & Anr. v. Lt Governor of Delhi & Ors.

Statute: The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1971; The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (Duties, Powers, and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971; The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (Election of Pro-Tempore Chairman, President, other Office Bearers, and Members of the Executive Board) Rules 1974