Panel to examine ad spendings by AAP govt

A three-member committee set up by the Centre to check violation of Supreme Court guidelines on government advertisements will examine allegation of misuse of public funds by the Aam Aadmi Party

A three-member committee set up by the Centre to check violation of Supreme Court guidelines on government advertisements will examine allegation of misuse of public funds by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The court was hearing four separate petitions filed in public interest, including one by Maken, seeking to restrain the AAP government from airing publicity campaign and advertisements allegedly glorifying chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party by “wasting public funds”. (Hindustan Times)

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the committee to decide in a time-bound manner Congress leader Ajay Maken’s representation, alleging that the AAP government was issuing ads in violation of guidelines.

“The committee will consider and hear both parties before passing an order. The committee will pass a detailed order indicating the time-frame,” a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra said.

The court was hearing four separate petitions filed in public interest, including one by Maken, seeking to restrain the AAP government from airing publicity campaign and advertisements allegedly glorifying chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by “wasting public funds”.

Read: AAP ads go in-house to save money for key schemes

Maken later said: “I am deeply satisfied with the order passed by the Delhi High Court… The proceedings in the days to come will have serious consequences on administration and people of Delhi”.

The court made the decision after Maken’s counsel Aman Panwar argued that only the state governments can appoint their own committee, whereas the advertisements of the Union territories have to be regulated by the three-member committee of the Central government.

Earlier, the AAP government had told the court that it had set up its own panel to regulate advertisements as per a recent Supreme Court verdict.