AAP asked to pay ₹163.62 crore spent on ads in violation of guidelines

The Delhi government’s Directorate of Information & Publicity (DIP) has issued a notice to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the recovery of ₹163.62 crore spent on advertisements allegedly in violation of the Supreme Court guidelines issued in 2015.

It warned the AAP headquarters can also be sealed if the party does not deposit the money within 10 days.

The notice, a copy of which HT has seen, relates to money spent on advertisements mostly published outside Delhi. It was issued on Wednesday days after Delhi’s lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on December 20 directed Delhi chief secretary Naresh Kumar to recover ₹97 crore the AAP spent on advertisements in violation of the guidelines.

An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said legal action that could involve attachment of party properties would be taken as per Saxena’s order. The ₹163.62 crore includes the principal amount of ₹99.31 crore till March 2017 and interest of ₹64.31 crore.

Saxena’s order cited the findings of a Union government-appointed three-member panel, which in September 2016 concluded the Delhi government was guilty of “misusing” taxpayers’ money on advertisements. The panel said the ruling AAP should reimburse the funds.

Saxena directed legal action including attachment of properties in case AAP does not deposit the amount. He also ordered scrutiny of advertisements issued after 2019.

The notice is set to escalate the feud between Saxena and the AAP government. They have been at loggerheads including over multiple probes against the AAP government.

There was no immediate response from the AAP over the notice. The story will be updated when it responds.

AAP’s chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj dismissed Saxena’s order in December over advertisements as illegal and said the lieutenant governor did not have the power to recover the money.

“The order has no legal value. All states ruled by the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] including Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Goa; and Congress governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have also been publishing advertisements of their schemes in newspapers in Delhi.”

He added the BJP-ruled states have published advertisements in Delhi worth ₹22,000 crore. “When the BJP pays ₹22,000 crore back to the exchequer, we will pay ₹97 crore to the exchequer.” He hit out at Saxena saying he has no understanding of the law and no shame.

Saxena issued the order in December after BJP lawmaker Ramvir Singh Bidhuri submitted a complaint in September. He asked the chief secretary to share details of advertisements on behalf of political parties for appropriate action with the Election Commission of India.

The Supreme Court in 2015 barred ruling parties from using pictures of their leaders in ads publicising welfare schemes. It laid down guidelines for regulating government advertising and to end unproductive expenditure.

The court said such ads would only carry photographs of the President, the Prime Minister, and the Chief Justice of India.

The Union information and broadcasting ministry in April 2016 formed a three-member committee to regulate the content of advertising and check unproductive expenditures as per the court’s direction. The panel probed the Delhi government’s advertisements. It issued orders in September 2016 identifying specific advertisements published in violation of the court’s guidelines. The panel directed the DIP to quantify the money spent and recover it from the AAP.

In March 2016, the court modified the order and allowed photographs of chief ministers, governors, and state ministers to be published with such ads.

DIP concluded that ₹97.14 crore was spent on advertisements that did not conform with the guidelines. At least ₹42.26 crore was released while ₹54.87 crore was pending disbursal. The DIP asked AAP to pay ₹42.26 crore to the state exchequer and ₹54.87 crore to the concerned agencies.

Saxena’s order said the recovery of ₹97.14 crore has not been complied with even after over five years and called for scrutiny of all the advertisements after August 9, 2019, when the content regulation committee was set up for scrutinising the ads.