Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot on Monday approached the Delhi High Court challenging the provision which requires State government Ministers, including the Chief Minister, to seek political clearance from the Centre for foreign visits.
The petition was filed in the backdrop of a recent case where Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was “denied permission” for his visit to Singapore for the 8th World Cities’ Summit from July 31 to August 7.
Speaking on the subject at an event in Delhi on July 29, Mr. Kejriwal expressed his disappointment at not being given timely clearance by the Centre, “The world is already talking about the ‘Delhi model’. It would have been good if I could have gone and shared the work being done in India with the world, but it’s alright.”
“The whimsical and capricious manner in which travel clearances for Indian Statespersons are treated is prejudicial not just to the interests of good urban governance in this case, but also national interests in global platforms generally,” Mr. Gahlot’s petition stated.
It also described the Centre’s refusal to clear the Delhi Chief Minister’s foreign visit as “manifestly arbitrary” and without any evident discernible principle.
“Such arbitrary and whimsical denial of travel permissions to important constitutional functionaries is a routine matter, and is often achieved either by prima facie illogical decisions or simply by delayed decision-making serving as a pocket veto,” it claimed.
The petition stated this was not the first instance of such “abuse of discretion” and noted that the Chief Minister was previously denied permission to attend the C-40 World Mayors’ Summit in Copenhagen in 2019. It claimed even Mr. Gahlot had requested clearance for his to visit London at the invitation of ‘Transport for London’, but there was no response from the authorities concerned at the Centre till the request became infructuous.
