Delhi LG’s direction on recovering ₹97 crore from AAP over ads

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has told Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to recover ₹97 crore from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the national capital over accusations that it published political advertisements as government ads.

The directions are said to be linked to prior orders by the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court.

This is set to be the latest flashpoint between the central government and the ruling party in the city. The Lieutenant Governor and the AAP have sparred over multiple issues, including the excise policy matter in which Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was named as an accused. Among other issues that have emerged as matters of contention has been the procurement of low-floor buses by the Arvind Kejriwal government when a nod for probe into irregularities was given by the LG.

‘Red light on, Gaadi off’ campaign has been another issue when Arvind Kejriwal said that the LG was trying to block a campaign that was meant to tackle the air pollution issue.

Last month, accusing the Lieutenant Governor of encouraging the “recalcitrance of civil servants” towards the elected government, the AAP government told the Supreme Court that the LG’s office has “derailed” the governance of the national capital “in complete disregard of constitutional commitments to representative democracy and federalism”.

The Lieutenant Governor is “running a parallel system of governance in the NCT of Delhi” by abrogating to himself the powers of an elected government, the ruling party had told the top court.