• The move comes nearly a month after Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena directed the chief secretary to charge AAP ₹97 crore for political advertisements published in the guise of government ads.
New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party has been issued a notice to recover Rs 163.62 crore for its political advertisements allegedly published in the guise of government advertisements, according to sources.
The development comes nearly a month after Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena directed the chief secretary to charge AAP ₹97 crore for political advertisements published in the guise of government advertisements.
The recovery notice issued by the Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) includes interest on the amount and it is mandatory for the ruling party in Delhi to pay the entire amount within 10 days, sources said on Wednesday.
"If the AAP convenor fails to do so, all legal action, including attachment of party properties, will be taken in a time-bound manner as per the Delhi LG's earlier order," a source said.
There was no immediate response from the Delhi government or the AAP.
Following the LG's order last month, the DIP has sent a notice to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal for recovery of ₹163.62 crore for political advertisements of the Aam Aadmi Party under the guise of government advertisements at the expense of the public. was published. treasury, sources said.
While ₹99,31,10,053 (₹99.31 crore) is towards the principal amount spent on political advertisements till March 31, 2017, the balance Rs. 64,30,78,212 (₹64.31 crore) is on account of penal interest on this amount.
Sources said the Audit Directorate of the Delhi government has also appointed a special audit team to audit all such political advertisements after March 31, 2017.
In 2016, the Delhi High Court directed the Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA) to decide on complaints regarding political advertisements by the AAP government.
The three-member CCRGA in September 2016 directed that "the main object and purpose of the guidelines framed by the Supreme Court was to prevent misuse of government funds for projection of the image of the politician or political party in power".
"Since the same has happened after the judgment of the Supreme Court, the only way to rectify this is for the political party, the main beneficiary in the process of violation, to pay for the expenses incurred by the government," it had said.
The committee had instructed the Delhi government to get the government exchequer to compensate the entire expenditure from you.
A review petition filed by the AAP government before the CCRGA was dismissed on September 22, 2016.
Scrutiny of records revealed that up to 31.03.2017 an estimated amount of about ₹ 97.15 crore had been spent on advertisements, which could be classified in violation of the Supreme Court guidelines on the matter. The amount has been pegged at ₹106.42 crore after further assessment, sources said.
As per records, out of ₹106.42 crore, ₹99.31 crore has already been paid by DIP to the concerned agencies and ₹7.11 crore (approx) remains outstanding.
DIP's notice reads, "In view of the above, you are requested to reimburse ₹99,31,10,053 to the state exchequer immediately and ₹7.11 crore (approx) for the balance advertisements for which payment has not yet been released Government, the payment should be made directly to the concerned agencies within 10 days from the date of issue of this notice."
On 20 December, when LG Saxena directed the chief secretary to recover ₹97 crore from the party for "political advertisements", the party said they had no power to pass such orders.
AAP's chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj termed the LG's directive as a 'new love letter'.
He said, 'BJP is furious that we have become a national party and snatched power from it in MCD. LG sir is doing everything at the behest of BJP and due to this the people of Delhi are facing problems. The more worried the people of Delhi are, the more happy they are. BJP gets it," Bhardwaj claimed.
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