Delhi: LG directs AAP to pay Rs 97 crore in 30 days for ads featuring Arvind Kejriwal

Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has directed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to pay Rs 97 crore for the advertisements issued by the Delhi government to promote the party.

The amount was allegedly "splurged" by the city government on ads in violation of the Supreme Court guidelines.

AAP has got a month to pay up the amount.

Baijal also ordered an inquiry into the spending on advertisements projecting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party and asked the chief secretary to fix responsibility.

The move comes months after a Centre-appointed three-member committee indicted the AAP government for "misusing" exchequer money on advertisements.

The complaint regarding the advertisements was filed by Congress leader Ajay Maken.

Sources told PTI that out of Rs 97 crore incurred on advertisements, government has so far paid Rs 42 crore to ad agencies and the LG has directed Chief Secretary M M Kutty to get the amount reimbursed from the AAP.

The rest Rs 55 crore, which is yet to be paid by the Kejriwal government, would be given by Aam Aadmi Party to the ad agencies, according to the the LG's directions.

Last year, 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 Lt Governor has now directed the chief secretary to get the amount of Rs 97 crore from Aam Aadmi Party," a source said.

In a report earlier this month, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had also found that the Aam Aadmi Party government spent Rs 29 crore in releasing advertisements outside Delhi which was "beyond" its responsibility.

--With PTI inputs