Govt to act against 277 publications for fraudulent ads

The government would lodge cases against 277 news and current affairs publications for producing “misleading” circulation data to fraudulently obtain its advertisements.

Officials said that the fudging of figures would amount to embezzlement of public money and FIRs would be lodged against owners of these publications at the police stations concerned.

The joint teams of the Department of Audio Visual Publicity (DAVP) and the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) recently carried out spot inspections at various locations in Delhi and Lucknow and discovered that the publications have fudged their circulation figures to get government ads.

“There is a strong view that these publications have used unfair means to obtain money meant for government ads from DAVP,” a source said.

Revealing that Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu has taken a “stern view” on the issue, they said they would set off the process to recover the funds from the publishers.

Ministry officials declined to reveal the names of the publications facing legal action. Of the 277 publications, 70 were found to be published from just one printing press, they added. About Rs 1.95 crore was disbursed to these publications in 2015-16 and about Rs 1.19 crore in 2016-17 to publish government ads.