Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 12: The Delhi government served Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with a notice on Wednesday, giving it 10 days to pay Rs 163.6 crore for political advertisements that were reportedly run in 2016–17 under the appearance of official government advertisements at the expense of the public coffers.
The Delhi government’s directorate of information and publicity (DIP) said the advertising broke Supreme Court rules and warned that ‘necessary action’ would be taken in accordance with the law if the money was not placed in the state exchequer within the allotted time frame. According to sources, the department may shut the AAP’s Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg headquarters.
“The recovery notice issued by the secretary (information and publicity) makes it mandatory for AAP to pay the amount within 10 days. If the convener of AAP fails to do so, all consequential legal action, including attachment of properties of AAP, shall be taken,” an official said in a statement.
This comes nearly after Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena directs the chief secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from the AAP for political advertisements it published in the guise of government advertisements during the year 2015-2016.
In response to an order issued by the Lieutenant Governor on December 20 for the recovery of 97 crores, the party stated that the Lieutenant Governor lacks the authority to issue such orders.
The instruction given by the LG was referred to as a ‘new love letter’ by the top spokesman for the AAP, Saurabh Bhardwaj.
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In 2016, the Delhi high court directed the committee on content regulation in government advertising (CCRGA) to decide on the matter of complaints regarding political advertisements by the AAP government.
The records had revealed tentatively the amount of about Rs. 97.15 crore assessed till 31.03.2023, was sustained on advertisement which may be categorised as a violation of the supreme court’s guidelines on the matter. The amount has been updated to Rs 106.42 crore after further appraisal, the sources said.
According to the records, out of Rs 106.42 crore, a payment of Rs 99.31 crore has been made to the agencies by DIP and Rs 7.11 crore is outstanding.
