Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena had directed the Chief Secretary to recover ₹97 crore from the AAP last month for political advertisements it published in the guise of government advertisements. File
| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
The Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) of the Delhi Government has issued a notice to Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal for the recovery of ₹163.61 crore from his party, for violating the Supreme Court-mandated guidelines in publishing/telecasting public advertisements.
According to the notice, the AAP has to pay the amount within 10 days. “Failing which further necessary action as per law will be taken in this matter,” the notice read.
Responding to the notice, the AAP sought copies of the advertisements whose cost is being sought from the party.
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In a letter to the DIP, AAP national secretary Pankaj Gupta said that the demand was not accepted by the party and termed it as “arbitrary, perverse, and contrary to facts and provisions of law and extant policies”.
The development comes nearly a month after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena directed the Chief Secretary to recover ₹97 crore from the AAP for political advertisements it published in the guise of government advertisements.
Subsequent to the L-G’s order issued last month, the DIP has served a notice to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal for recovery of ₹163.62 crore for the political advertisements of AAP, published in the garb of government advertisements at the cost of public exchequer, the sources added.
While ₹99,31,10,053 (₹99.31 crore) is on account of the principal amount incurred on political advertisements till March 31, 2017, the remaining ₹64,30,78,212 (₹64.31 crore) is on account of penal interest on this amount.
The Delhi government’s Directorate of Audit has also deputed a special audit team for conducting an audit of all such political advertisements after March 31, 2017, the sources said.
In 2016, the Delhi High Court had directed the Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA) to decide in the matter of complaints regarding political advertisements by AAP government.
The three-member CCRGA, in September 2016, directed that “the main purpose and objectives of the guidelines framed by the Supreme Court was to prevent misuse of government fund for the projection of image of the politician or the political party in power”.
(With inputs from PTI)
