NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday nuged the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan to address the concerns of leading daily, Rajasthan Patrika , on declining ad allocation from the government.The daily had claimed that both display and classified ads issued by the state had dipped to all-times lows and this was affecting its circulation too. “Declining ad is resulting in declining circulation. It’s a fight for survival,” senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi , appearing for the daily, told a bench, comprising Justices AK Sikri and DY Chandrachud.“Each day is strangulation of oxygen,” he said. Singhvi was assisted by lawyer Amit Bhandri and state Additional Advocate General S S Shamshery. He alleged that the fall had come in the wake of some critical articles against the state government and was a “direct assault on the freedom of the press.” He demanded a restoration of minimum of 35% ads to the paper.Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha contested the daily’s allegations, claiming instead that the state government was only correcting an imbalance in ad allocation to the press.“They had no problems when they got unlimited patronage. When it comes to making money, comfort with a regime is not scrutinised. But when the vested interest is broken, complaints are made of attacks on press freedom. Where is the right? There is no scrutiny of undue favours. We are only trying to rectify this and they cry press freedom. When they gets ads to the extent of starving all others they don’t complain,” he said.He insisted that the figures had not gone down substantially only for the daily but others as well, citing data from earlier successive years. In any case, he argued, the Patrika had received advertising worth Rs 7,58,000 in the first three months of this fiscal. This prompted Justice Sikri to point out that last year government ads amounted to Rs 3 crore.Going by this rate, this year it will only amount to 28 to 30 lakh, he said. “You show by your actions that you are not trying to get a balance,” Justice Sikri said. “We are adjourning the case by a few weeks.” Allocation is almost nil in 2016 for Rajasthan Patrika, Justice Sikri noted. While it has gone up for Dainik Bhaskar alarmingly, he noted. “Get a balance in it,” he said.