New Delhi, Aug 29 : The Delhi High Court on Monday issued a notice regarding Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot’s argument against “political clearances” of state ministers to go abroad on trips, following a controversy surrounding the acceptance of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Singapore visit , which did not arrive on time.In announcing a notice to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Union of India through the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, and Ministry of Finance, Justice Yashwant Varma scheduled the next hearing to be held on January 23 next year.
The court also gave the respondents eight weeks’ time respondents to submit a counter-affidavit.
In Gahlot’s words that he receives political clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for personal trips abroad of ministers of the state government violates their right to privacy as well as the respectability of the position of office under the Constitution.
In reference the Kejriwal’s Singapore visit the plea read: “The Chief Minister was previously refused permission to participate in the C-40 World Mayors Summit in Copenhagen in 2019.The petitioner who is the charge of transportation in the council of ministers, also sought permission to travel to London at the request of “Transport for London The petitioner was denied permission to visit London, but there was no response from the authorities concerned in the Central government until the request was deemed infructuous,” the plea read.
It also stated: “.the petitioner is directly affected by the oppressive and inhumane regime that requires clearances for personal trips abroad made by ministers of state.As a key participant in the Delhi model of urban governance, and in the management of an important portion of urban design The petitioner is sincerely interested in making sure that Delhi’s Delhi government is represented in international and national forums.”
The dispute began to rage between the Centre and the state after Kejriwal decided to drop his plan to participate in the World Cities Summit in Singapore after an inexplicably long delay in permissions from the Lieutenant.Governor.
“Only the Central government is accountable for CM Arvind Kejriwal not being allowed to participate in the World Cities Summit in Singapore and the humiliation the country had to endure.
The file pertaining to the approval of the Chief Minister’s trip was submitted to the LG on June 7 .The LG was able to keep the file for about one and a quarter months before returning the document on July 21.At that point the file was returned, there had not only been many months of delays, but also the deadline of July 20th to complete the travel documents was also past,” the Delhi government had stated in an announcement following the incident.
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