Centre's permission to visit abroad: Delhi Minister Gahlot challenges provision in HC

New Delhi: 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.

The petition said this was not the first instance of such abuse of discretion and noted the chief minister was previously denied permission to attend the C-40 World Mayors' Summit in Copenhagen in 2019. It claimed even Gahlot had requested for clearance to visit London at the invitation of Transport for London but there was no response from the authorities concerned in the Central government till the time the request became infructuous.

Gahlot, an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, has sought issuance of guidelines to channel and guide the implementation of several Office Memoranda issued by the Cabinet Secretariat, empowering the Centre to grant or deny permission to state government ministers for foreign visits in their official capacity. Justice Yashwant Varma asked the petitioner to file an additional affidavit to buttress one of the reliefs claimed in the petition relating to permission for personal foreign visits. Gahlot was represented by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

The court listed the petition for further hearing on August 22. Gahlot, in his plea filed through advocate Bharat Gupta and Hrishika Jain, said all these visits were on invitation and were crucial fora for exchanging ideas on improving urban governance and showcasing Delhi's own progress in urban design.

The Delhi government minister said the draconian manner in which the central authorities have used their discretion on travel clearances is only

exacerbated further by the fact that even personal visits by

state ministers must be cleared by them.