No Reasons: Punjab Takes Centre to High Court Over CM Mann's Paris Trip

The Bhagwant Mann France visit hangs on a High Court hearing after the MEA denied political clearance. Read the paper trail, the rules and past refusals.

Arvind Chhabra

Chandigarh, October 15

Bhagwant Mann France Visit: The delegation was due to leave New Delhi for Paris on Thursday. It did not. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has not gone to France, and the question of whether he can now is with the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

On the day the trip was to begin, Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya heard the Punjab’s petition against the government of India and others. The State challenges the Ministry of External Affairs’ refusal of political clearance for the visit.

The Indian government’s counsel asked for a short accommodation to take instructions and file an affidavit. The court granted it and adjourned the matter to October 16.  

The date matters because the trip was built around a fixed calendar. SIAL Paris, a food trade show held once every two years, opens on October 17 and runs to October 21. The petition says that without the court’s intervention the opportunity will be “irretrievably lost.”

Bhagwant Mann France Visit: WHAT THE STATE SAYS HAPPENED

Bhagwant Mann France Visit: According to Punjab, the Department of Personnel gave cadre clearance on September 2 to Chief Secretary K.A.P. Sinha and Principal Secretary to the CM Ravi Bhagat. The conditions were that MARKFED bear the cost and that the officers go only after MEA clearance.

On September 3, APEDA, a statutory body under the Union Commerce Ministry, confirmed MARKFED’s participation under the APEDA India Pavilion and allotted it an 18 sq m stall. The same day, the Department of Cooperation wrote to the Joint Secretary (EW Division), MEA, approving Mann’s visit and asking for sanction “immediately.” A second letter on September 8 said the CM would travel two days early, for business meetings with Embassy officials, importers, food companies, trade associations and investors.

The online application on the MEA’s e-Political Clearance portal followed on September 9, 36 days before departure. The State says it disclosed that the Indian Mission in France had been consulted, administrative approval was in place, no ex-India leave was being availed, and the funding source was a PSU, MARKFED. The tentative itinerary filed with the petition runs from departure on October 15, through a meeting with the Punjabi diaspora on October 16 and the SIAL opening and MARKFED stall on October 17, to a meeting with the Indian Ambassador, importers and investors on October 20, and return on October 21.

THE ONE-LINE DENIAL

Bhagwant Mann France Visit: The State says no reply came to either letter and no clarification was sought. The application status simply changed to “DENIED.” The printout carries a single line of remark: “Ministry of External Affairs has examined the proposal. Clearance from political angle is declined.” It bears a signature that is difficult to read in the scanned copy. The State says no reasons were recorded or communicated and it was given no hearing.

What the Centre’s reasons are, if any, is not on the record the State has filed. The affidavit due before the court is where they would first appear.

THE STATE’S CASE

Bhagwant Mann France Visit: Punjab asks the court to quash the denial and issue a mandamus directing clearance. In the alternative, it seeks a direction that the MEA reconsider within 24 hours through a reasoned, speaking order after hearing the State. It also seeks interim clearance while the petition is pending, production of the MEA’s record including the file notings, and costs.

Its grounds, as filed, are these.

Reasons. The State argues a decision affecting a party must disclose reasons and cannot be supplemented later by affidavit.  

No law behind it. The State says no Act of Parliament requires political clearance for Chief Ministers, ministers or State officers. The requirement rests on Office Memoranda of the Cabinet Secretariat and MEA, which, it says, lay down no criteria for grant or refusal, no time limit, no duty to record reasons and no appeal.  

Federalism. The State says the visit falls within its executive power under Article 162, read with Entries 14 (agriculture), 24 (industries), 26 (trade and commerce within the State), 27 (production, supply and distribution of goods) and 32 (co-operative societies) of List II. It says Article 73 does not extend Union executive power to these matters, and that entries on foreign affairs and foreign trade in List I are not attracted because Punjab is not negotiating treaties or regulating imports and exports.  

Timing. The State says the refusal cannot be about lack of time. It points to Finance Ministry (Department of Economic Affairs) guidelines of 2019 and 2023, which ask that proposals for foreign visits by State functionaries reach that department at least three weeks ahead. The petition says its proposal went out six weeks before travel.

The Centre’s own agency. The State says APEDA, a Union body, facilitated MARKFED’s presence in the India Pavilion, and that the Centre cannot facilitate participation while preventing the State’s leadership from attending.

Maintainability. The State says the petition lies under Article 226 and is not barred by Article 131, since it seeks review of a specific administrative decision rather than adjudication of a Union-State dispute. It says a suit under Article 131 could not be decided before October 15, and offers to implead the delegation members as co-petitioners if required.

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WHAT PUNJAB STOOD TO GAIN

The petition describes MARKFED as the State’s apex cooperative, with a turnover of around Rs 22,000 crore. Its SOHNA brand covers ready-to-eat foods, sarson ka saag, basmati rice and mustard oil. The petition says it exports to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the EU, but that a significant portion of its exports presently goes to the Gulf. The State’s stated aim in Paris was direct engagement with importers and investors and what it calls government-to-business and government-to-government meetings to promote Punjab as an investment destination in agriculture and food processing.

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HEARING ON OCTOBER 16

The Centre’s affidavit is the first thing. It will show whether the MEA now gives reasons, and the State has already argued that reasons cannot be added after the fact. The court may also take up maintainability under Articles 226 and 131 before the merits. And with SIAL opening on October 17, any ruling on interim clearance will have to come at once, and the State has not said whether the delegation can still make it.

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