CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has allowed Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to travel to France for a trade fair, sharply questioning the Centre's decision to deny him political clearance without assigning any reasons. In its detailed order released on Saturday, the court observed that the "political angle" cited by the Ministry of External Affairs as the ground for refusal had not been explained at all.
"It has not been explained what that political angle/viewpoint is, and whether political clearance means examining the application from a political angle. No reasons are forthcoming," the high court remarked, in observations that are likely to add a new dimension to the recurring tussle between states and the Centre over the foreign visits of chief ministers.
The court was hearing a petition filed by the Punjab government challenging the denial of political clearance to a three-member delegation comprising the Chief Minister, the chief secretary and the principal secretary to the Chief Minister for a visit to Paris from October 17 to 21. The delegation was to attend SIAL Paris 2026, a major international food and beverage innovation trade fair, where the state-run Markfed was to participate.
On Friday, the court had allowed the state's plea. The detailed order, released a day later, records the court's reasoning. The bench of Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya set aside the refusal and directed the respondents to approve the delegation's visit urgently in accordance with the programme conveyed by the state, to facilitate its departure, and to extend due protocols as per the prescribed procedure.
The controversy began when the Centre, through an October 12 communication, denied political clearance for the visit. The communication to the state government carried a single line: "Ministry of external affairs has examined the proposal. Clearance from political angle is declined." The state government said that no reply had come to its letters, no clarification had been sought, and the application status on the portal had simply changed to "denied".
Before the court, the Centre argued that the decision to grant or deny political clearance to ministers and chief ministers depended on a range of factors, including bilateral relations, the prevailing political situation, the diplomatic climate and any anti-India activities being undertaken in or emanating from the country concerned.
The Centre also said that, as a matter of practice, the reason for denial is not conveyed on the portal because permissions are sometimes refused on sensitive matters which cannot be disclosed as they have a bearing on bilateral relations.
The court did not find this explanation sufficient. It noted that the validity of an order has to be judged on the basis of the reasons recorded in it, and that those reasons cannot be supplemented later through an affidavit — a principle laid down by the Constitution Bench in the Mohinder Singh Gill case. Since the original communication contained no reasons at all, the justifications subsequently offered in the Centre's affidavit could not be used to sustain the denial.
The bench also rejected the Centre's contention that there was no proper invitation from the French government. Taking note of a September 22 communication from the organisers of the trade fair to the French Embassy in India, the court said the contention "cannot be accepted". The letter had recorded the organisers' pleasure at counting Mann among the visitors to the show and described the event as an opportunity to form business contacts and negotiate contracts.
Nor did the court accept the Centre's argument that the Chief Minister had no functional role to perform during the proposed visit. The bench observed that the Chief Minister heads the delegation, which itself underscores a functional role, and added that the requirement appeared "superfluous" since the clearance had been denied on the "political angle" alone and not on any functional aspect of the visit.
The order records no finding on the larger constitutional questions raised during the hearing, including those relating to federalism and the absence of a statutory framework for political clearances.
The ruling came against the backdrop of a political row over the visit. The Bharatiya Janata Party slammed the foreign tour, with former Union minister and BJP leader Ravneet Singh Bittu questioning the expenditure incurred on it. Taking to social media, he wrote: "Paris official visit or birthday vacation... Bhagwant Mann's birthday trip to Paris — in whose name and at whose expense."
Some opposition leaders also alleged that the Chief Minister was taking his wife along on the trip to celebrate his birthday, and questioned the timing of the visit when the state was facing a grave fiscal crisis. There was no immediate reaction from the Chief Minister or the Aam Aadmi Party to these allegations at the time of filing of the reports.
According to the tentative itinerary placed before the court, the delegation was to depart on October 15, meet members of the Punjabi diaspora on October 16, attend the opening of the trade fair and the Markfed stall on October 17, and hold meetings with the Indian Ambassador, importers and investors on October 20 before returning on October 21.
The episode is the latest in a series of confrontations between the Punjab government and the Centre over the foreign travels of the Chief Minister. Political clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs is required for the foreign visits of chief ministers and ministers, and denials have in the past triggered allegations of political vendetta as well as counter-arguments about security and diplomatic sensitivities.
For the state government, the court's order is a vindication of its stand that the denial was arbitrary. For the Centre, the observations raise uncomfortable questions about the transparency of a process in which a one-line refusal, without reasons, can stall the official travel of an elected chief minister.
The detailed order makes it clear that while the government is entitled to take sensitivities into account, a decision that affects the functioning of a state government cannot rest on unexplained grounds.
With the court directing that the visit be approved urgently and departure facilitated, the delegation's programme is expected to proceed as planned, even as the political debate over the trip continues in Punjab.
(Reporting based on Hindustan Times and The Tribune.)