Is Centre Stopping CM Kejriwal From Singapore Visit?

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What has happened?

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has questioned why the Centre has delayed the clearance of his trip to Singapore, where he has been invited to attend a World Cities Summit scheduled during July 31- August 3.
“I don’t understand why I am being stopped from attending the World Cities Summit,” Kejriwal said on Monday.
In October 2019, the Centre had not given him approval to attend another conference abroad, which he eventually addressed through videoconferencing.

The World Cities Summit is biennial, organized by Singapore’s Centre for Liveable Cities and Urban Redevelopment Authority.
It acts as a common platform for industry experts and government leaders to address sustainable city challenges.
The first summit was held in 2008.
The city is just 721.5 square kilometre in area.
The city has grown rapidly since its independence. The summit helps other cities to learn live examples from Singapore.

What clearance do CM require to travel abroad?

They have to inform the Cabinet Secretariat, which stated in a circular on May 6, 2015:
“The Cabinet Secretariat and the Ministry of External Affairs should be kept informed of the proposed foreign visit, either official or private, of Chief Ministers and Ministers of State Governments/ Union Territories.
However, prior political clearance and FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) clearance are mandatory.”
In case of Chief Ministers and Ministers of state governments, a copy of the application must also be sent to the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA).

What is political clearance?

This comes from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
This is required not only for public servants but any government servant for a foreign trip.
The MEA gets hundreds of requests for political clearance every month from ministries, secretaries, bureaucrats and other officials.
Since 2016, applications can be made for e-political clearance, on the portal gov.in.
These are processed and clearance is issued after coordination among various Ministry divisions, which is done through a dedicated ‘Coordination Division’.
The concerned ministry and the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) entertain an application only if political clearance from the MEA is attached with the request.
Without this clearance, no public servant can go abroad.

Any other clearance required?

As mentioned earlier, Chief Ministers, ministers of state governments and other state officials also need clearance from the Department of Economic Affairs.
For Union ministers, after getting political clearance from the MEA, additional clearance is needed from the Prime Minister, whether the trip is official or personal.
Lok Sabha MPs need clearance from the Speaker, and Rajya Sabha members from the Chairperson (Vice President of India).
For MPs, it is not obligatory to inform the Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha secretariat if the trip is private.

What about judges?

For official foreign travel, the proposal by a Supreme Court or High Court judge is sent to the Department of Justice (DoJ) after taking clearance from the Chief Justice of India.
The DoJ, after taking political clearance from the MEA and in some cases from the Home Ministry (when FCRA is involved), issues approval.
Political clearance from the MEA was needed even for personal trips until February 11, 2010, when the DoJ decided to dispense with this necessity in case of private visits.

So what CM Kejriwal is saying?

Miffed over the pending clearance from the centre for his proposed visit to Singapore to attend a global summit, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal asserted that there appears to be a “political reason“ behind the delay.
Arvind Kejriwal stressed he wasn’t a criminal and his visit to the “World Cities Summit” in Singapore is a matter of national pride.
“It’s beyond my understanding why I’m being prohibited from visiting the summit. I think this visit would only bring more glory to India,” he said.
On Sunday, he wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requested for the visit approval.
“The Government of Singapore has invited us to present the Delhi model at the global summit. During the summit, the Delhi model
has to be presented in front of many big leaders of the world. Today the whole world wants to know about the Delhi model. This invitation is a matter of pride and honour for the country,” the letter stated.
Highlighting the time when Modi was denied a visa by the US to attend a similar summit when he was the CM of Gujarat, Kejriwal urged the PM to leave politics aside and think of national interest:
“We may have political differences within the country, but in front of the world, we should forget our differences and put national interest on the frontline. When you were the CM of Gujarat and America denied you a visa, the whole country criticized America and supported you.”
In 2019, the MEA had denied Kejriwal permission to attend the Copenhagen C40 World Mayors’ Summit in Denmark.
Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had attended the same summit in 2007 in New York.

What BJP is saying?

Reacting to Mr. Kejriwal’s letter, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Delhi spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said it was “surprising and shocking” to see the Chief Minister getting anxious over a visit to Singapore.
“Mr. Kejriwal is one Chief Minister who does not hold a single portfolio and has made no direct contribution to Delhi’s development.
Before writing a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr. Kejriwal should mention seven development projects taken up by his government in the last seven years of being in power,” he said.

Q) Constitution of India guarantees which of the following to the states of India?