Delhi L-G directs Chief Secretary to recover ₹97.14 crore from Aam Aadmi Party for political advertisements

Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Vinai kumar Saxena with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. File.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has directed the Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to recover ₹97.14 crore from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for publishing political advertisements as government advertisements with the exchequer’s money.

The L-G issued the directions after finding the party in violation of Supreme Court orders from 2015, a Delhi High Court order from 2016, and Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA)‘s 2016 order.

Replying to the development, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said that it is unfortunate that the L-G House is stating in its official statement baseless statements of the BJP spokesperson. 

“LG is asking how Delhi government’s advertisement is being published outside Delhi. There is no BJP-ruled State whose advertisements are not published in Delhi’s newspapers. A rough estimate shows that BJP-ruled States’ advertisements, which are published in different States and come in different TV channels, if calculated, it becomes ₹22,000 crore. When will the BJP pay ₹22,000 crore? Collect ₹22,000 crore from the BJP first. Even if you collect half of this from them, we will give ₹97 crore,” he said.

In 2015, the Supreme Court had postulated guidelines to regulate government advertising and eliminate unproductive expenditure. Following this, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting formed the three-member Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA) in 2016.

The Delhi government’s Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP), acting on a 2016 directive from a Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, had notified that ₹97.14 crore (₹97,14,69,137) had been spent or booked on account of “non-conforming advertisements”, sources told PTI.

The CCRGA investigated advertisements published by the DIP and issued an order in September 2016, identifying those which were in “stark violation of the guidelines” set by the Supreme Court. 

( With inputs from PTI)