AAP advertisement in New Delhi. File AAP advertisement in New Delhi. File

The AAP government’s latest advertisement targetting the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hit an unexpected roadblock — its Directorate of Information and Publicity has raised objections, saying it “violates” Supreme Court guidelines about the content of government ads, said sources.

The advertisement was aimed at highlighting a letter Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had recently shot off to the PM, accusing the central government’s I-T department of harassing small businessmen.

A senior official of the department, in his communication on the issue, has “strongly advised” the AAP government not to go forward with the advertisement as it “violated” the top court’s guidelines.

The official pointed out that the advertisement was “making allegations against the Prime Minister” and “it would not be appropriate to make allegations against the PM in a government advertisement.”

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Citing Supreme Court guidelines, the publicity department said “display material” in government advertisements had to be “free of political or partisan argument” and had to “maintain political neutrality”, without directly attacking the views and actions of the opposition.

The publicity department also observed that it would be “inappropriate” to comment on political promises in a government advertisement. It said as the purpose of the advertisement was “political” — it was based on an official communication to the PM — issuing such an advertisement at the expense of the public exchequer, to make the letter public, was “un-warranted”.

Sources told The Indian Express that the advertisement was sent by the office of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is also in charge of the government’s publicity department.

The communication also pointed out that no government department had “taken ownership of the advertisement.”

“SC guidelines prescribe that heads of government departments and agencies shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with these guidelines and shall follow a procedure of certification of compliance before advertisements are released to the media. The present advertisement is not owned by any HOD and hence it is not known who is responsible for ensuring compliance of the guidelines,” stated the communication.

The department’s “advise” comes over a month after the Comptroller and Auditor General, in an audit report of the Delhi government’s spending on advertisements and publicity, inferred that the expenditure had surged from the previous government’s Rs 25.25 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 81.23 crore in 2015-16.

The display material must be presented in objective language and be free of political argument or partisan standpoint.

Government advertising shall maintain political neutrality and avoid glorification of political personalities and projecting a positive impression of the party in power or a negative impression of parties critical of the government.

Advertisement materials must not – (i) Directly attack the views or actions of others in opposition (ii) aim to influence public support for a political party, candidate for election

The content of government advertisements should be relevant to the governments’ constitutional and legal obligations as well as the citizens’ rights and entitlements.

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