New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and six states over a petition an AamAadmi Party (AAP) lawmaker claiming they were spending public money advertisements to benefit the ruling party.
The Bench headed by Justice RanjanGogoi has asked Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Telangana to respond to the petition. The court has also issued a notice to the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP).
The petition, by AAP’s Burari MLA SanjeevJha, wants the ruling parties to reimburse the Centre and the state governments the money spent on advertisements they have benefited from.
All states except for Telanganais under the BJP. Telangana is ruled by the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti.
The petitioner has drawn the attention of the court towards “ex-facie violation and circumvention” of the directions issued by the top court by the Centre and the states controlled by the BJP. It has also pointed to the “gross dereliction of duty” by the committee set up by the Centre on April 6, 2016 in pursuance to the directions issued by the top court.