New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has turned down a top bureaucrat’s request that the system of mandatory political clearance for overseas trips by senior officials be scrapped.
The ministry has explained why the current system must continue, and stressed that it is the MEA’s prerogative to decide on the suitability, desirability and level of participation of Indian officials in engagements abroad.
Civil Aviation Secretary Ashok Lavasa had written to Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth on June 16, asking that the “dilatory system” of the MEA clearing all proposals for travel abroad by officials be changed. Lavasa was learnt to have also mentioned this at a meeting PM Narendra Modi had with Secretaries on June 4.
The cabinet secretariat had sent the letter to the MEA with a request to examine it before August 14. Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh wrote back on August 13, giving detailed reasons for why Lavasa’s request could not be accepted, sources said.
03/09/14 Shyamlal Yadav/Financial Express
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
The ministry has explained why the current system must continue, and stressed that it is the MEA’s prerogative to decide on the suitability, desirability and level of participation of Indian officials in engagements abroad.
Civil Aviation Secretary Ashok Lavasa had written to Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth on June 16, asking that the “dilatory system” of the MEA clearing all proposals for travel abroad by officials be changed. Lavasa was learnt to have also mentioned this at a meeting PM Narendra Modi had with Secretaries on June 4.
The cabinet secretariat had sent the letter to the MEA with a request to examine it before August 14. Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh wrote back on August 13, giving detailed reasons for why Lavasa’s request could not be accepted, sources said.
03/09/14 Shyamlal Yadav/Financial Express
