It’s looking at the possibility of expanding the list of VIPs exempted from pre-embarkation checks to now include Ministers of State. There are 45 such ministers in the Union Government. The last time the list (see chart) was amended was in 2005 when Robert Vadra’s name was added to it — the only individual mentioned by name in the list.

As The Sunday Express had reported on April 29, Sharma, on his way to attend a Hindi conference in New York on April 20, was asked by CISF officials to go through the routine drill — immigration and security checks — just like any other passenger. Sharma is said to have insisted on using the special passage meant for VIPs on the list of 23 categories of individuals exempt from such checks.

Incidentally, this list also applies to the use of the ceremonial (read VIP) lounge at Delhi airport. The Protocol Division of the MEA, which controls access to this lounge, reports to Sharma. As a result, he has had little problem using this facility. But with the arrest of BJP MP Babulal Katara, the CISF has become strict and that’s why it decided to put its foot down to say No to the Minister — without much luck.

So when security personnel cited the rulebook, Sharma is said to have ticked off the CISF DG and when the door leading to the boarding area from the “ceremonial lounge” was opened for Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who was returning from Cyprus, Sharma walked through the gate “without pre-embarkation security check.”

Left with no choice, the officials stamped his documents and delivered it to him at the boarding gate. The CISF officially raised the matter with the Cabinet Secretariat, Home Ministry and the Civil Aviation.

Soon after the report appeared in The Sunday Express, Sharma is said to have met Home Minister Shivraj Patil. “An issue has been raised and we are looking into the matter. Any decision will be taken after consultations with the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security,” Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta told The Indian Express when asked whether the VIP list was being expanded.

With Sharma slated to leave for Washington tomorrow, MEA officials were busy trying to ascertain until late this evening whether the list had been amended.

While the MEA claims that the exchange between the Minister and the CISF staff was anything but polite, the CISF is under pressure ever since the facts became public. Admitting that it did report the incident, it now says that the contents of the news report “are not entirely in line with actual events.”

Sharma is also said to have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh claiming that protocol was followed. However, in his meeting with Patil, he reportedly pointed out what he called a “constitutional impropriety” — of having top bureaucrats like the Cabinet Secretary and foreign ambassadors on the exempted list while Ministers of State like himself being kept out.

The Home Minister, sources said, has asked his officials to re-examine the list and look at the possibility of extending the privilege to the entire Council of Ministers. As of the now, the facility is only extended to Cabinet Ministers.

No need to check:

President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Former Presidents, Speaker of Lok Sabha, Chief Justice of India, Judges of Supreme Court, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of Cabinet rank, Deputy Chairman Rajya Sabha & Deputy Speaker Lok Sabha, Governors of States, Chief Ministers of States, Chief Justices of the High Courts, Lt. Governors of Union Territories, Chief Ministers of Union Territories, Deputy Chief Ministers of States

Deputy Chief Ministers of Union Territories, Ambassadors of foreign countries, Charge D’ Affaires, High Commissioners and their spouses, Cabinet Secretary, Visiting Foreign dignitaries of the same status as at Sl. Nos. 1 to 3, 5, 6, 9 & 11 above, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, SPG Protectees, Shri Robert Vadra, while travelling with SPG Protectees