The running AAP-LG feud in Delhi saw Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena directing the chief secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party for political advertisements it published allegedly in the guise of government advertisements.
Hitting back, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP alleged that the LG issued the “illegal” orders on the directions of the BJP which was “flustered” after the loss in the MCD polls.
The BJP hailed the LG’s directions and demanded a CBI inquiry into the “scam”, claiming that the amount to be recovered from AAP will rise to Rs 400 crore.
Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken also welcomed the decision and said that he was glad that the LG had “woken up from his slumber”.
Interestingly, Maken had in 2016 filed a complaint with the Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA), set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, over the issue.
The CCRGA had then directed the AAP-led city government to reimburse the state exchequer the costs incurred on the advertisements from the party.
The LG in his orders to the chief secretary also directed that all advertisements since September 2016 be referred to the CCRGA for vetting and ascertaining if they are in consonance with the Supreme Court guidelines.
The Delhi government’s Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP), acting on the 2016 directive from the CCRGA, had notified that over Rs 97.14 crore had been spent or booked on account of “non-conforming advertisements”, the sources said.
“Of this, while payments amounting to over Rs 42.26 crore had already been released by the DIP, Rs 54.87 crore for advertisements published were still pending disbursal,” a source said.
Amid an ongoing power tussle, the LG office and the Kejriwal government have had frequent run-ins over administration and policy-related decisions, including the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.
The DIP had in 2017 directed AAP to pay over Rs 42.26 crore to the state exchequer immediately and directly pay the pending amount of Rs 54.87 crore to the advertising agencies or publications concerned within 30 days for the non-conforming advertisements, the sources said.
“However, even after the lapse of five years and eight months, AAP has not complied with the DIP order. Such defiance of a legitimate order by a registered political party is not only contemptuous of the judiciary, but also does not augur well for the health of good governance,” the source added.
The Directorate of Vigilance (DoV) also inquired into complaints and found that not only did the DIP not recover amounts worth Rs 42.26 crore but it also proactively paid the pending amount of Rs 54.87 crore, rather than getting AAP to pay it, a source said.
“In eight cases, payment of Rs 20.53 crore was made, falsely attributing it to court/arbitration orders.” The DoV found that Deputy Chief Manish Sisodia had approved the payment of another Rs 27 crore (approximately) by entering into a fraudulent “compromise deed or settlement”, despite the fact that there was no litigation nor there were any directions from the Supreme Court or the Delhi High Court, the source claimed.
It also said that such advertisements that are “prima facie and blatantly violative of the Supreme Court order” have been continuously issued by the DIP on the direction of the ministers.
Citing an example, it said that the entire cost for the bio-decomposer project was Rs 41.62 lakh but the expenditure incurred for advertising it was Rs 16.94 crore, which is 40 times higher than the project cost.
The DoV also called it a ”grossly illegal move” by the AAP dispensation to put in place a committee of its own to look into violations of the Supreme Court guidelines.
Former LG Anil Baijal too had dismissed the constitution of the committee.
Incumbent V K Saxena has even asked that the money spent on the functioning of the committee be recovered.
“He has additionally asked for Shabdarth – the public agency formed by the Kejriwal government currently manned by 35 individuals on a contractual or outsourced basis – to be manned by government servants instead. The finances of Shabdarth ever since it came into being shall also be audited,” the source added.
In 2015, the Supreme Court postulated guidelines to regulate government advertising and eliminate unproductive expenditure. Following this, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting formed the three-member Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA) in 2016.
The CCRGA investigated advertisements published by the DIP and issued an order in September 2016, identifying those which were in “stark violation of the guidelines” set by the apex court.
Addressing a press conference here, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj, however, termed the LG’s direction a “new love letter” and said that as Valentine’s Day nears, the frequency of such love letters is only going to increase.
“The BJP is flustered that we have become a national party and wrested power from it in the MCD. LG sahab is doing everything in accordance with the BJP’s directions and that is troubling the people of Delhi. The more worried Delhi’s people are, the happier the BJP gets,” Bhardwaj claimed.
He further said that the LG’s directions would not stand in the eyes of law.
“The Delhi LG has no such power. He cannot issue such directions… The BJP’s various state governments issued advertisements that have been published here. We want to ask when will the Rs 22,000 crore spent on the advertisements be recovered from them. The day that money is recovered, we will also give Rs 97 crore,” the AAP leader said.
In 2017, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had termed the then LG Anil Baijal’s order to recover Rs 97 crore from the AAP as “wrong” and had said that it would be challenged in court.
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