Supreme Court Refuses Plea Against Delhi HC Order Quashing Visa Services Tender Process For 4 Countries

The Supreme Court today refuses to intervene in Centre's plea 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.

A CJI Surya Kant led bench has dismissed the SLP moved by Union of India but has issued certain directions that no impediment should be caused to the day-to-day functioning of the concerned establishments pending the completion of the fresh tender process.

"It shall be open to Engineers India Limited (EIL) and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to make suitable interim arrangements for continuation of the subject services. Such interim arrangements may include engagement of the successful L-1 bidders whose performance has been found satisfactory, or any other agency, in such manner as EIL and the MEA may consider appropriate. This arrangement shall be purely temporary, and shall not create any special equities in favor of any party, and shall remain subject to the outcome of the fresh Request for Proposal (RFP) process," the bench also comprising Justices Bagchi and Mohana said.

Court has further ordered that the Ministry of External Affairs shall ensure compliance with the earlier directions as well as the directions contained in the High Court order and shall complete the fresh tender/RFP exercise as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of three months.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Union today. "We are dealing with our services in foreign countries..no allegations of bias..the process is not under challenge..kindly consider this milords," SG urged the bench. He further told court today that the plea before the High Court was a sponsored petition.

High Court by the impugned decision had 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.

Case Title: Union of India vs E Trav Limited

Hearing Date: July 20, 2026

Bench: CJI Kant, Justice Bagchi and Justice Mohana