The Delhi government’s publicity wing, the Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP), has asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in his capacity as AAP National Convenor, to reimburse over Rs.163 crore spent by it on advertisements which are in violation of Supreme Court Guidelines within 10 days.
These include ads issued outside Delhi, those that mention the name of the AAP, publicizing the views of the Chief Minister on incidents in other states and ads targeting the opposition.
Congress leader Ajay Maken had filed a complaint with the three-member Supreme Court-appointed Committee on Content Regulation of Government Advertising (CCRGA) alleging unproductive expenditure and in violation of Supreme Court guidelines in this regard by the Delhi government in 2016.
The Committee had directed the Delhi Government to get the entire expenditure incurred on such categories of ads reimbursed to the state exchequer from the Aam Aadmi Party.
A review petition was filed by the AAP, but was dismissed soon after followed by a demand notice from DIP. The AAP had approached the Delhi High Court against the notice but could not get a stay on the demand order.
“The assessed amount of Rs. 97,14,69,137 was required to be reimbursed to the State exchequer.
After reassessment in financial year 2022-2023, an updated amount comes to be Rs. 106,42,26,121,” R. Alice Vaz, secretary, Information & Publicity wrote in her communication to Kejriwal.
The amount to be reimbursed to the State exchequer, she stated, included over Rs. 99.31 crore and plus penal interest of more than Rs. 64.30 crore. The AAP, Vaz added, was required to pay upwards of Rs. 7.11 crore to other advertising agencies as well.
“Now, therefore, a final opportunity is hereby given to reimburse the amount…within 10 days of issuing of this notice, failing which further necessary action as per law will be taken in this matter” she stated.
On December 21, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena had directed the Chief Secretary to recover Rs. 97 crore from the ruling party citing recommendations of the CCRGA which had ruled that government funds were misused for ads.
According to officials in Raj Niwas, it was found that over Rs. 97 crore was allegedly spent and payments worth Rs. 54 crore were pending.
They added that in 2017, the DIP had directed the AAP convener (Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal) to pay Rs. 42 crore to the state exchequer immediately, and directly pay the remaining amount to the advertising agencies involved within 30 days.