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Sisodia hits out at BJP as AAP gets notice for recovery of money spent on ads
The notice warned the AAP headquarters can also be sealed if the party does not deposit the money within 10 days and escalated tensions between lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena and the Delhi government
Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday hit out at lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for using officials to target the Delhi government following a notice to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the recovery of money spent on advertisements allegedly in violation of the Supreme Court 2015 guidelines.
The notice warned the AAP headquarters can also be sealed if the party does not deposit the money within 10 days and escalated tensions between Saxena and the Delhi government.
The notice, a copy of which HT has seen, from the Delhi government’s Directorate of Information & Publicity (DIP), which comes under Sisodia, relates to money spent on advertisements mostly published outside Delhi.
It was issued on Wednesday days after Saxena on December 20 issued an order directing 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 the AAP has been asked to pay 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 escalated the feud between Saxena and the AAP, which have been at loggerheads also over multiple probes against the AAP government.
Sisodia, who held a press conference over the notice, accused the BJP of misusing its “unconstitutional control” over the bureaucrats to target chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and other AAP leaders. “The DIP secretary has served a notice for the recovery of ₹163 crore from the AAP and threatened further actions...”
He said the officer has issued the threat on the BJP’s directions. “The people of Delhi have elected Kejriwal to work for the people of Delhi...But the BJP is unconstitutionally controlling the officers and using them for political purposes. They are not allowing the officers to work for the welfare of the people.”
Sisodia called the notice an attempt to target the elected government so that it cannot work for the people. He added BJP and Congress-ruled states were also publishing advertisements in the newspapers of Delhi.
“Why is the BJP not asking the officers of Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to recover the money from their chief ministers? Kejriwal wants officers to work for the people, but the BJP wants to use the officers to target the elected chief minister.”
Sisodia said the AAP is looking into the issue when asked if they will approach the court against the notice.
In a series of tweets earlier, Sisodia pointed out DIP comes under the elected government’s administrative control and said officers in Delhi were being “illegitimately” used. He added hoardings with photos of BJP chief ministers have been put up all over Delhi. “Will their expenses be recovered from the BJP chief ministers? Is that why BJP wants to keep the officers of Delhi under unconstitutional control?”
The feud escalated a day after the Union government on Wednesday countered in the Supreme Court the AAP’s charge that the elected government has been rendered powerless. It said the Delhi government’s argument that the lieutenant governor was running the capital was as hollow as a “castle in the air”.
A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court is hearing a case related to the tussle between the AAP and the Union governments over who controls the transfer and posting of bureaucrats in Delhi.
The Union government has maintained the Constitution does not envisage separate services for a Union Territory unlike states and the executive power over all civil servants working in Delhi vests in the President.
In 2018, a Supreme Court Constitution bench ruled the legislative power of the Delhi government over subjects other than the exempted entries of public order, land and police will have to be determined “contextually”, citing Constitution’s Article 239AA.
Saxena’s order over the recovery in December came after BJP lawmaker Ramvir Singh Bidhuri submitted a complaint in September. He asked the chief secretary to share details with the Election Commission of India of advertisements on behalf of political parties for appropriate action.
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 ending 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.
