Centre’s panel to see if AAP govt wasting resources on ads

AAP on Wednesday said Lt Governor Najeeb Jung’s contention that the Centre did not do anything which could have led to a confrontation with the Delhi government was contrary to his actions that included stalling of several key projects of the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation.

Secretary to the L-G Vijay Kumar issued an order to Principal Secretaries, Secretaries and heads of all departments, autonomous bodies, corporations, boards and institutions under the Delhi Government to immediately identify and review all the orders where prior approval of the LG was required but not taken by August 17. “Accordingly, the petitions stand disposed of”, said the bench.

Maken, chief of Congress’ unit in Delhi, has also sought a direction to restrain the Delhi government from publishing the name of the Delhi Chief Minister in any of its current or future advertisements, that are allegedly in violation of the government Advertisement Guidelines, 2014.

The three-bench committee, headed by former chief election commissioner, B. B. Tandon, was constituted by the Centre following an order by the apex court on 13 May 2015.

In July past year, the court had asked the Delhi government to submit a status report on how much money it spent on advertisements, reported ANI.

The apex court’s order said government ads can only carry pictures of certain dignitaries like the President, Prime Minister and Chief Justice of India. Counsel Vikas Singh had told the court that the Delhi government has been allotted an advertisement expenditure budget of Rs 520 crore, which amounts to Rs 1.8 crore per day.

However, advocate Aman Panwar, appearing for Maken, argued that since Delhi was a Union Territory, the notification did not apply to it. Maken had also filed a representation before the Supreme Court-appointed panel in May.