Arvind Kejriwal, demanded payment of Rs. 163 crore for advertising that was improperly spent within ten days.

The Committee had directed the Delhi Government to get the entire expenditure incurred on such categories of ads reimbursed to the state exchequer from the Arvind Kejriwal.

The Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP), the publicity arm of the Delhi government, has demanded that . Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in his capacity as the national convenor of the AAP, reimburse the party for more than Rs. 163 crore that was spent on advertisements that were against Supreme Court guidelines within ten days.

The AAP and the BJP got into a political spat over the recovery notice right away. Pankaj Gupta, the national secretary of the Aam Aadmi Party, wrote to R Alice Vaz, the secretary of Information & Publicity, requesting copies of the advertisements the department was attempting to recoup the cost of.

“Over the past seven years, the BJP has used the LG to unconstitutionally exert control over the city’s bureaucracy. Under pressure from the BJP, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is currently being threatened by Alice Vaz, an IAS official, with a payment of Rs. 163 crore, according to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.“Instead of ensuring quality work for the betterment of the citizens of Delhi, the BJP is using the city’s bureaucracy to target AAP government ministers. All this is being done by practising unconstitutional control over officers. The BJP is forcing bureaucrats to write letters against the Chief Minister through its control over them,” he added.

Read Also: During the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi met farmer leader-Rakesh Tikait

Sisodia claimed that whereas Arvind Kejriwal wanted policemen to perform tasks for citizens, the BJP just “wants them to target ministers so that they don’t perform their duties.”

Manoj Tiwari, a BJP member from North East Delhi, charged the AAP for robbing the city of money intended for the wellbeing of its residents. This is a fraud. The AAP Delhi Government’s false advertising scheme. We demand the immediate freezing of AAP’s bank account. Tiwari claimed that the party had misappropriated public monies to boost its own image.

These include advertisements published outside of Delhi, those mentioning the AAP, promoting the chief minister’s opinions on events in other states, and advertisements aimed at the opposition.

“The State exchequer was required to be reimbursed for the assessed sum of Rs. 97,14,69,137. Vaz said in her message to Arvind Kejriwal , “After evaluation in the financial year 2022-2023, an updated sum comes to be Rs. 106,42,26,121.

She said that the amount that must be repaid to the state exchequer includes over Rs. 99.31 crore in addition to over Rs. 64.30 crore in penal interest. Vaz said that the AAP was also compelled to pay additional advertising agencies upwards of Rs. 7.11 crore.

Therefore, she stated, “Now, a final chance is hereby offered to reimburse the amount…within 10 days of publication of this notice, failing which further appropriate action as per law would be taken in this matter.”

In 2016, Congress leader Ajay Maken complained to the Supreme Court-appointed CCRGA, which consists of three members, about the Delhi government’s allegedly wasteful spending and disregard for Supreme Court directives in this area.

The committee has instructed the Delhi Government to get reimbursement from the AAP for the full amount spent on these types of advertisements.

The AAP filed a review petition, but it was quickly denied and was followed by a demand notice from DIP. The AAP had petitioned the Delhi High Court in opposition to the notice, but was unsuccessful in getting the demand order stayed.Invoking recommendations of the CCRGA, which had decided that government funds were misappropriated for advertisements, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena had instructed the chief secretary to retrieve Rs. 97 crore from the ruling party on December 21, 2022.

Over Rs. 97 crore was allegedly spent, while payments worth Rs. 54 crore were said to be due, according to Raj Niwas officials.According to them, DIP ordered Aam Aadmi Party Convener Kejriwal to pay the state exchequer Rs. 42 crore immediately and the remainder Rs. 90 crore to the concerned advertising companies directly within 30 days in 2017.