AAP Served Notice To Pay Back Rs 163 Crore It Spent On Political Advertisements Within Ten Days

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been issued a notice for recovery of Rs 163.62 crore for its political advertisements, allegedly published in the garb of government advertisements, in the next ten days.

This comes almost a month after Delhi's Lieutenant Governor (LG), V K Saxena, instructed the chief secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from the party for political messaging that were guised as government advertisements.

The recovery notice issued by the Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) also includes the interest on the amount and makes it mandatory for the ruling party in Delhi to pay the whole amount within ten days.

"If the AAP convener fails to do so, all consequential legal action including attachment of the properties of the party shall be taken in time bound manner, as per the earlier order of the Delhi LG," a source told the PTI.

Subsequent to the LG's order issued last month, the DIP has served a notice to AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, for recovery of Rs 163.62 crore for the political advertisements of the party, published in the garb of government advertisements at the cost of public exchequer, the sources added.

While Rs 99,31,10,053 (Rs 99.31 crore) is on account of the principal amount incurred on political advertisements till 31 March 2017, the remaining Rs 64,30,78,212 (Rs 64.31 crore) is on account of penal interest on this amount.

The Delhi government's Directorate of Audit has also deputed a special audit team for conducting an audit of all such political advertisements after 31 March 2017, the sources said.

In 2016, the Delhi High Court had directed the Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA) to decide in the matter of complaints regarding political advertisements by AAP government.

The three-member CCRGA, in September 2016, directed that "the main purpose and objectives of the guidelines framed by the Supreme Court was to prevent misuse of government fund for the projection of image of the politician or the political party in power".

"Since the same has happened even after the Supreme Court judgment, the only way it could be rectified is to make the political party, the main beneficiary in the process of violation, pay for the expenditure incurred by the government," it had said.

The committee had directed the Delhi government to get the entire expenditure incurred reimbursed to the state exchequer from the AAP.

(with inputs from PTI)