A Central government appointed committee on Friday came down heavily on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government saying it had splurged the exchequer’s money on ads that violated Supreme Court guidelines. It further said that the AAP should reimburse the money spent on the ads.
The three-member committee, headed by former Chief Election Commissioner B. B. Tandon, had been constituted by the I&B Ministry on directions of the Supreme Court to address issues related to Content Regulation in Government Advertising.
The panel had received a complaint from Congress leader Ajay Maken accusing the AAP government of splurging public money on ads.
In its order issued on Friday, “the Committee came to the conclusion that the Government of NCT of Delhi has violated guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in six of the nine areas listed by the complainant”.
Violations
The violations include “outstation ads, false/misleading ads, ads for self-glorification and to target political opponents, ads against media, ads mentioning the party in power by name and also ads issued on incidents occurring in other States.”
In its order, the panel which also comprised adman Piyush Pandey and journalist Rajat Sharma, has said that the AAP should be made to reimburse the expenditure since the violation of the Supreme Court order of May 13, 2015, has taken place.
The assessment of the expenditure should be made by the Delhi government, it said.
The panel directed the AAP government to assess the expenditure incurred by it in issuing ads outside the territory of Delhi on the occasion of various anniversaries (except those tender or appointment ads, which are outside the purview of the SC guidelines in a judgement delivered in May 2015).
It also directed that the Delhi government assess expenditure on those ads or advertorials in which the name of the Aam Admi Party is mentioned, which publicised the views of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on incidents that took place in other States, and ads which targeted the opposition.
“The committee further directs the Government of NCT of Delhi to get the entire expenditure so incurred on the above mentioned category of ads reimbursed to the State exchequer from the AAP,” the order of the Committee on Content Regulation of government ads has held.
— PTI
Centre-appointed panel says AAP splurged exchequer’s money on ads that violated guidelines
