Centre Moves Supreme Court Against Delhi HC Quashing Visa Services Tender Process For 4 Countries
Supreme Court agrees to hear plea against quashing of tender awarded by Centre to private firms for outsourcing consular, passport and visa (CPV) services
Centre has moved Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court's decision setting aside the tender awarded by it to private firms for outsourcing consular, passport and visa (CPV) services at the Indian missions in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Singapore and Canberra.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the plea before a CJI Kant led bench today which agreed to list the same on Monday.
High Court by the impugned decision has directed central government to issue a fresh request for proposals within one month inviting fresh bids.
A bench of Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Shail Jain in its verdict delivered on Wednesday opined that the Centre while taking the decision, relied on undisclosed comparative standards, made unexplained deductions under objective evaluation criteria, and adopted inconsistent marking.
“The use of undisclosed comparative standards, unexplained deductions under objective criteria, inconsistent marking and complete absence of recorded reasons strikes at the heart of transparency, fairness and equality in public Procurement. Therefore, exclusion of a lower bidder on the basis of an arbitrary evaluation process, is not merely an individual grievance but also raises concerns of public interest under Article 14 of the Constitution,” the high court said.
It added, “The impugned technical evaluation processes are set aside. Consequently, award of tender in favour of the private Respondents shall also stand nullified. The respondent numbers 1 and 2 are directed to issue fresh RFP for procurement of CPV Services across all four Missions, namely, Abu Dhabi (UAE), Kuwait, Singapore and Canberra (Australia), within a period of one month from the date of this judgment and make sincere efforts to conclude the process at the earliest.”
Before the high court, two unsuccessful bidders, E Trav Tech Limited and Verasys Limited, who had participated in the tender process but were disqualified at the technical evaluation stage, since they had failed to secure minimum 70% marks to qualify for opening of their financial bids had challenged the communications declaring them unsuccessful.
Mentioning Date: July 17, 2026
Bench: CJI Kant, Justice Bagchi and Justice Mohana