Arvind Kejriwal asked to pay Rs 163 crore ‘mis-spent’ on ads ‘within 10 days’

“The assessed amount of Rs 97,14,69,137 was required to be reimbursed to the state exchequer. After reassessment in the financial year 2022-2023, an updated amount comes to be Rs 106,42,26,121… The amount to be reimbursed to the state exchequer… including penal interest of Rs 64,30,78,212 (up to 28.12.2022) comes to be Rs 1,63,61,88,265,” said the notice signed by R Alice Vaz, Secretary, Information and Publicity.

“Now, therefore, a final opportunity is hereby given to reimburse the amount… within 10 days of issuing of this notice, failing which further necessary action as per law will be taken in this matter,” said the notice.

The recovery notice triggered a political row between the AAP and BJP. AAP National Secretary Pankaj Gupta wrote to Vaz, seeking copies of the related advertisements.

Addressing a press conference, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said: “The BJP has, over the last seven years, been unconstitutionally exercising control over the city’s bureaucracy through the L-G. Today, Alice Vaz, an IAS officer, is threatening Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for payment of over Rs 163 crore, under pressure from the BJP.”

“Instead of ensuring quality work for the betterment of the citizens of Delhi, the BJP is using the city’s bureaucracy to target AAP 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 alleged.

Sisodia pointed out that advertisements of BJP chief ministers are published in Delhi’s newspapers too. “Will BJP also recover money from them,” he said.

BJP Northeast Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari accused the AAP of looting public funds. “This is a scam — the advertisement scam of the AAP’s Delhi government. We demand that AAP’s bank account be frozen immediately,” he said.

The row comes at a time when the issue of control of administrative services in Delhi is being heard by the Supreme Court.

In his letter to the chief secretary on December 20, directing recovery of Rs 97 crore from the AAP, the L-G had cited recommendations of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising (CCRGA), which had ruled that government funds were misused for advertisements.

The panel looked into the matter after Congress leader Ajay Maken raised the issue in 2016. The committee had directed the Delhi government to get the entire expenditure incurred on such advertisements reimbursed to the state exchequer from the AAP.

A review petition was filed by the AAP, but it was dismissed soon after, followed by a demand notice from DIP. The AAP had approached the Delhi High Court against the notice but did not get a stay on the demand order.

The advertisements include those issued in publications outside Delhi, Raj Niwas officials said. Some of the advertisements include those on the achievements of the AAP government in Delhi in controlling the rise in school fee, scholarships for students, revamping of Interstate Bus Terminals (ISBTs), relief to 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims, and the impact of the odd-even road space rationing scheme.