Chandigarh: Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday allowed Punjab govt’s petition challenging the Centre’s decision to deny political clearance for chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s proposed official visit to France.Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya allowed the plea after hearing arguments from counsel for state and Centre. A detailed order was awaited at the time this report was filed.Mann expressed his gratitude to high court and said he and the govt delegation were leaving on Friday night. Questioning the restrictions on his foreign travel, he said, “Why are we required to seek court permission for such matters? Do we now have to approach the court for everything?”The Punjab govt delegation planned to visit Salon International de l’Alimentation (SIAL) Paris — touted as the world’s largest and most influential food innovation exhibition — from Oct 15-21 to promote trade.It approached HC on Thursday, seeking quashing of the Centre’s decision to deny clearance, pointing out that ministry of external affairs (MEA) had not even assigned any reason.During Friday’s hearing, counsel for the Centre, additional solicitor general Satya Pal Jain, filed an affidavit and submitted that an email was sent to Punjab govt on Thursday seeking details of the proposed visit, the ‘threat perception’ concerning the CM and security arrangements required during the foreign visit.Jain also argued that it was difficult to make foolproof security arrangements for the CM at such short notice. He questioned how the Indian Embassy could facilitate the visit in the absence of a formal invitation from the foreign country.Punjab govt’s counsel, additional advocate generals Chanchal K Singla and Ferry Sofat, contended that the Centre had marked govt’s application ‘denied’ on its portal without assigning any reason or giving the state a hearing. They also relied on Supreme Court judgments in support of the state’s plea.The petition, filed through Ritu Aggarwal, secretary, department of cooperation, had challenged the denial of political clearance as “non-speaking, arbitrary, without authority of law and violative of the federal structure of the Constitution”.According to the petition, the state government had submitted an application on Sept 9 for political clearance for a delegation led by the CM to visit France for promotion of trade.The proposed visit was linked to participation of Marketing Federation Limited (Markfed), the apex cooperative of the state, in SIAL Paris 2026, an international food trade show scheduled to be held from Oct 17 to 21.It mentioned that the department of cooperation had approached MEA on Sept 3 and 8, seeking clearance for the visit. An online application was submitted on Sept 9, but on Oct 12 its status was shown as “denied”.State govt contended that the Centre did not assign any reason for rejecting the application and did not provide an opportunity to clarify any concerns before taking the decision.In a press statement on Friday, Mann said, “The Prime Minister can travel across the entire world. He goes to China, Malaysia and wherever else he wants to go. But when I want to go somewhere for Punjab’s work, to bring investment to the state, or to participate in a food festival where Markfed will set up a stall, we are denied permission. We are going there to promote Punjab’s interests, not to hold a political rally.”The CM also questioned the denial of permission for his proposed visit to Japan for the Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament. “They grant permission to our officers, but Bhagwant Mann cannot go? Are they so afraid of me?”
