Image Source: AGENCIES

20-12-2022
Watsupptoday Desk

Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has directed the chief secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party for political advertisements it got published “in the garb of government advertisements”. Saxena’s directions come in wake of the Supreme Court's order of 2015, the Delhi High Court's order of 2016 and the Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising’s (CCRGA) order of 2016, “being violated” by the AAP government till now. The L-G said that this apart from being a gross case of misappropriation of government funds for the benefit of a political party, also amounts to contempt of the Supreme and High Court. The Delhi government's Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP), acting on a 2016 directive from a CCRGA set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, had notified that Rs 97.14 crore (Rs 97,14,69,137) had been spent or booked on account of "non-conforming advertisements". Of this, while payments amounting to Rs 42,26,81,265 had already been released by DIP, Rs 54.87 crore for advertisements published, were still pending disbursal.
Acting on the directive, the DIP had in 2017 directed the AAP to pay over Rs 42.26 crore to the state exchequer immediately and directly pay the pending amount of Rs 54.87 crore to the advertising agencies or publications concerned within 30 days, the L-G order read. "However, even after the lapse of five years and eight months, the AAP has not complied with the DIP order. This is serious as public money, despite a specific order, has not been deposited by the party to the state exchequer. Such defiance of a legitimate order by a registered political party is not only contemptuous of the judiciary, but also does not augur well for the health of good governance," the order added. In 2015, the Supreme Court had postulated guidelines to regulate government advertising and eliminate unproductive expenditure. Following this, the three-member Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA) was constituted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in 2016, to regulate the content of advertising and eliminate unproductive expenditure of government revenue.
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 apex court. The CCRGA, thereafter, investigated the advertisements published by DIP, and issued orders in September 2016, identifying specific advertisements that were in “stark violation” of the guidelines set by the apex court and directed the DIP, GNCTD to quantify the amounts spent by it in such advertisements, and recover the same from the Aam Aadmi Party.