Clearance for foreign trips: PM passes buck to FM

Sources say, Singh has taken the step to keep his office away from any kind of controversy that may arise out of giving permission to bigwigs from Congress-ruled states or from rejecting proposals from Opposition-ruled states.

The nodal agency for receiving and examining all such proposals was always the Finance Ministry — or to be more specific the Department of Economic Affairs under it — but the buck will now stop there instead of the 1982 circular requiring the Ministry to ‘‘refer each proposal to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for obtaining the clearance of the Prime Minister.’’

The Department of Economic Affairs was so far involved in the process as it has to instruct the Reserve Bank of India to release foreign exchange. The new rules, however, enlarges its role to a great extent.

The Finance Minister has now been empowered to give the final orders, but not before he gets a political clearance from the External Affairs Ministry and a security clearance from the Home Ministry, which will also give a separate clearance under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

Every such proposal for foreign trips will now be examined by ‘‘a screening committee of secretaries, which in turn will give its recommendation to the Finance Minister for final orders,’’ says the memorandum.