Understanding the provisions for foreign visits of State government Ministers

GS paper 2

Syllabus: Federal structure, Parliament and state legislature- structure, functioning and conduct of business, role of Lieutenant Governor etc

Directions: UPSC may ask about powers of Governor, methods of approval for foreign visit by ministers etc

Source: The Hindu

Context:

• Delhi Lieutenant-Governor (LG) recently advised the Chief Minister against attending the World Cities Summit in Singapore as it was for “mayors of cities”.
• Now, the State Transport Minister who had also sought political clearance for an official visit to London has moved the Delhi High Court with a plea to set aside the need for travel clearances by the Centre for private foreign visits of State government Ministers.
• He has also asked for the framing of appropriate guidelines with respect to the clearances for official foreign tours of Chief Ministers and other State government members.

Under which provisions are approvals required?

• Clearances from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Ministry of Home Affairs, Finance Ministry, and the Central Administrative Ministry: On August 16, 1982, the Cabinet Secretariat had issued an office memorandum titled “‘Guidelines regarding foreign travel of Ministers of State government and Union Territories and State government officials”, stating that foreign visits by members of the State governments in their official capacity would require clearances from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Ministry of Home Affairs, Finance Ministry, and the Central Administrative Ministry.
• Final orders to be issued by the Finance Ministry: The Secretariat circulated another order on September 3, 2004, modifying the provisions to the extent that the final orders were to be issued by the Finance Ministry.
  • The following directive dated November 2, 2004, stipulated that Chief Ministers required further approval from the Prime Minister’s Office before an official visit.
• Political clearances mandatory: On August 26, 2010, yet another office memorandum made political clearances mandatory before private visits of Ministers in State governments, which was reiterated through an order on May 6, 2015.

On what grounds has the petition been filed?

• Right to privacy: The petition argues that the need for political clearances from the MEA for personal foreign visits of State government Ministers violates their right to privacy and dignity of their constitutional office
• Beyond the jurisdiction of LG: The “undated” LG letter advising against the proposed Singapore visit is beyond the jurisdiction of his office’s authority
• Arbitrary non-exercise of power: That the use of “gross delay” to effectively deny clearances for official foreign visits, including the Chief Minister’s Singapore visit, is an “arbitrary non-exercise of power”
• Suffer from the vice of arbitrariness and un-channeled discretion: That the manner of implementation of the relevant office memoranda on clearances for official visits “suffer from the vice of arbitrariness and un-channeled discretion”.
• Against national interest and good governance: It also states that the “arbitrary and capricious implementation” of the travel clearance Office Memoranda is against national interest and good governance, and impinges upon the right to travel abroad as guaranteed under Article 21.

Insta Links:

Government of National Capital Territory (GNCTD) Amendment Act, 2021

Practice Questions:

Q. Do you think the Constitution of India does not accept the principle of strict separation of powers rather it is based on the principle of ‘checks and balance’? Explain.(UPSC 2019)