New Delhi, Feb 17 (IANS) The Delhi High Court will hear on February 18 Congress leader Ajay Maken's plea against a media blitz launched by the Aam Aadmi Party government in the national capital on completion of one year in power.
A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath said on Wednesday that the plea will be heard along with the main case that will come up for hearing on Thursday (February 18).
Maken, who heads the Delhi unit of the Congress, contended that the Arvind Kejriwal's government had been running an advertisement campaign that cost approximately Rs.100 crore. However, no work was done on the ground, he said.
The petition said that while the Delhi government claimed it had "no money for the salaries of poor rag-pickers, hundreds of crores are being spent on self-glorification and political ads around the country".
Maken's petition listed a large number of advertisements published or broadcast in various towns and cities across India.
"These outstation ads are of no use to the Delhi taxpayers or for the residents of towns and cities like Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru etc.," Maken's petition said.
The Congress leader sought the high court intervention to "immediately stop these advertisements and recover the cost of all such advertisements from Arvind Kejriwal".
He also requested the court to direct the Delhi government that the money so recovered from Kejriwal be used for municipal reforms in the capital.
Maken filed the application in the ongoing public interest litigation wherein he said huge amounts were spent on advertisements glorifying Kejriwal and the AAP.
