Delhi LG asks department heads to comply with SC order on govt adverts in media

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal on Friday asked the chief secretary to communicate to all head of departments to strictly comply with the Supreme Court order on government advertisements in the media.

The direction came in the backdrop of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government setting aside around Rs 33.3 crore for publicising the odd-even road rationing scheme.

"The Lt governor asked the chief secretary (Vijay Kumar Dev) to communicate to all principal secretaries, secretaries and HODs for compliance of orders of the Supreme Court regarding release of advertisements in media by the government," said a statement issued by the L-G office.

It said the LG secretariat had written a letter to the chief secretary on September 29, 2016, regarding compliance of the apex court order dated May 13, 2015. The order has laid down principles for regulation of government advertisements, the statement said.

The Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) is learnt to have reg-flagged on Thursday the Delhi government's expenditure plan for publicising odd-even scheme and and asked the transport department to cite the cost-effectiveness of the planned ad campaign.

In the past, the LG office and the AAP government have been at loggerhead on the issue of advertisement.

In March 2017, Baijal had directed that Rs 97 crore be recovered from the ruling AAP that was allegedly "splurged" by the city government on advertisements in violation of the Supreme Court guidelines.

Later, the AAP had moved the Delhi High Court against the lieutenant governor's order.