The Centre Friday told the Delhi High Court it has granted political clearance to Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai to travel to New York from September 15 to 21 to attend Columbia India Energy Dialogue.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed Justice Subramonium Prasad that political clearance has been granted for Rai's travel in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case but it should not be made a precedent and that the order shall be restricted to this case only.
While recording the submission made by the law officer, the high court disposed of the Aam Aadmi Party leader’s petition in which he sought quashing of the central government’s order denying him political clearance to travel abroad for the programme.
The Centre, which was against granting clearance to the petitioner during the first half of the day when the matter was taken up, informed the court about the development in the post-lunch session.
The Ministry of External Affairs had said in its September 12 letter that it has examined the proposal and declined political clearance as the “visit from Government of NCT of Delhi would not be appropriate as India is being represented at the Columbia-India Energy Dialogue by Shri Suman Kumar Bery, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog (Ministerial-rank)."
Rai sought permission to travel to the US city from September 15 to 21 to attend the programme being held on September 18 where he has been invited as one of the speakers.
Rai, represented by Delhi government standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi and advocate Arun Panwar, said in the plea that his official request to attend the event was rejected assigning “arbitrary and malafide” reasons.
“The invitation is specific for different persons representing different stakeholders and does not intend to confine delegates at national level only for the formal representation of the country, therefore the reason cited hereinabove is nothing but a colourable exercise of power and accordingly bad in law,” the petition said.
During the hearing, the solicitor general said he has a request to make to the petitioner that “whenever anyone of us goes out of India, and this is my request and not the request of government of India, we represent the nation...We may have other political views and ideologies are different but we cannot criticise our nation outside."
To this, the judge said, “Inside the country, we may be divided but outside we stay united."
The government's law officer was referring to the running feud between the city's AAP government and the Centre over a variety of issues.
Tripathi assured the court and the law officer that nothing of that sort will happen. “Rest assured… We are not divided even inside the country,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the additional solicitor general representing the Centre defended the denial of political clearance, saying when the vice chairman of Niti Aayog is already representing India at the Dialogue, there is no requirement for Rai, who will represent the city as a cabinet minister, to also be present there.
He said the source of funding of Rai's travel is public and not private money.
The high court said a person who has been invited to speak at the programme has been invited because he is competent to talk on the subject and not as a representative of the country.
“When the money is spent by the state (government), why are you (Centre) worried? The Lieutenant Governor has also given his approval. The petitioner and Vice Chairman of Niti Aayog both are invited. Because the vice chairman is going, so Rai cannot go is not the answer,” the judge said.
Rai, in his plea, said he received the invitation on August 13. He said it is clear from the invitation that it is a dialogue to address the essential issue of energy consumption that is expected to grow about 1.5 times in the coming decades.
Therefore, citing the reason that India is represented by a bureaucrat of ministerial level is neither intended nor desired by the Global Energy Policy, the organisation holding the dialogue, he said.
The plea said the Centre has permitted other officers from different states to attend the event, and the reasons given in the order denying permission to Rai are completely contradicted by these actions.
“It is also not out of place to mention that Arvind Kumar, Special Chief Secretary, Municipal Administration and Urban Development, Telangana Government is also a part of the programme and has been selected as a speaker to speak on the issue of balancing energy security and energy transition priorities in India."
"This is demonstrated by the fact that the impugned order cites reasons that are contradicted by other actions taken by the respondents. This clearly demonstrates that the impugned order is a colourable exercise of power,” the petition said.
It said Delhi, as a major urban city, plays a key role in the transition to clean energy and how national policies impact everyday activities of the public.