There are several other Ministers who have similarly been snubbed by the PMO — on more than one occasion. Mani Shankar Aiyer, Minister for Panchayati Raj, Youth Affairs and Sports; Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi (as Minister for Water Resources) and Vilas Muttemwar, as Minister of State for Non-Conventional Energy, twice received a “No” from the PMO for their proposed foreign trips.

Other Ministers whose proposals were turned down “in view of Parliament session” are Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar; Kapil Sibal, (as Minister of State for Science and Technology); Kumari Shelja (as Minister of State for Urban Employment); Subodh Kant Sahay (Minister of State for Food Processing); A Raja, (as Minister for Environment and Forests); EVKS Elangovan, (as Minister for Commerce and Industry); Namo Narain Meena, (Minister of State for Environment); Shakeel Ahmed (Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology) and Manik Rao Gavit (as Minister of State for Home).

In some cases, the PMO has been critical while denying permission. For instance, Panabaka Lakshmi, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare was informed by the PMO that she could not travel to Slovenia since “the invitation was not from a Governmental organization” and Sriprakash Jaiswal, Minister of State for Home, was asked to cancel his trip to UK and France since “the visit is not important.”

Along with Ministers, there are nine occasions when Secretary-level officers failed to get the green signal from the PMO. These include:

• Reva Nayyar, (as Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development): Trip to Bangkok in September 2004 turned down, “in view of her visit to New York” for a UNICEF meeting.

... contd.