Supreme Court notice to I&B Ministry, 6 states on 'misuse of public money' on ads
New Delhi, Aug 31 : The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and six states on a plea by an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lawmaker, alleging that advertisements are being issued at government expanses for political purposes to benefit the ruling party.
The states which have been issued the notice are Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.
The bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi sought the response on the plea by AAP's Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha, who has sought a direction to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to reimburse to the Centre and the state governments concerned the money they have spent on advertisements allegedly to benefit the ruling party.
The notice has also been issued to 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.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Kerala leader M A Baby elected CPIM general secretary
Madurai(PTI): Former Kerala minister M A Baby was elected as the CPI(M) general secretary at the 24th party congress here on Sunday, sources said.
A section of the party leaders had backed All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) president Ashok Dhawale for the post.
Born to P M Alexander and Lilly Alexander in Kerala's Prakkulam in 1954, Baby's first exposure to politics came when he joined the Kerala Students Federation, the predecessor of the Students Federation of India, during his school days.
He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1986 to 1998.
Baby has been a member of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body of the CPI(M), since 2012.
The post of the party general secretary fell vacant following the death of Sitaram Yechury last year, after which Prakash Karat took over as the interim coordinator.
The 24th party congress of the CPI(M) began on April 2 and will end on Sunday.
