(PTI)
New Delhi, Sept 17: Congress Saturday demanded recovery of nearly Rs 854 crore from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi for publishing advertisements on self-promotion, a day after a Central government-appointed committee said the Kejriwal government splurged exchequer’s money on the advertisements.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his administration should also be probed by CBI or any other agency for “criminality” in the matter, AICC senior spokesman and Delhi PCC chief Ajay Maken said. Maken insisted that Lt Governor Najeeb Jung should ensure recovery of the advertisement cost at commercial rate which are issued at thrice the cost of the DAVP (Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity) rate as they were issued for promotion of the ruling AAP and its leaders.
He said the AAP spent Rs 284.67 crore during its regime on advertisements which were published outside Delhi. “Had the AAP issued these advertisements on non DAVP rates, three times more, the cost of the same would have been more than Rs 850 crore. As per the Order of the Committee, AAP is liable to reimburse the Delhi government a sum of more than Rs 854 crore,” he said.
A Central government-appointed committee, headed by former Chief Election Commissioner B B Tandon, in its order Friday came down heavily on the AAP government, saying it had splurged public funds on advertisements projecting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party in violation of the Supreme Court guidelines and asked the ruling party to reimburse.
The three-member committee had been constituted by the I&B ministry on directions of the Supreme Court to address issues related to Content Regulation in Government Advertising. In its order, the panel said that AAP should be made to reimburse the expenditure since the violation of the Supreme Court order of May 13, 2015, has taken place.
Maken, who had approached the Supreme Court and High Court on the issue of ads issued by AAP government in July this year, hailed the committee’s order saying it was a “big relief” for the tax payers in Delhi. “Not only did the AAP government spend money outside Delhi, they also lied about development works in the capital that were advertised in other states,” Maken alleged.
Citing CAG report, he said, “No new dispensaries were created in 2015-16 by the government in Delhi. On the AAP government’s claim of making dispensaries at lower costs, CAG said they couldn’t find files that supported the claim made in the TV ad.”