Centre moves SC against Delhi High Court order quashing passport, visa tender

New Delhi: The Central government has petitioned the Apex Court challenging the Delhi High Court's recent decision to quash the award of tenders for the outsourcing of Consular, Passport and Visa (CPV) services at Indian Missions in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Singapore and Canberra.

The matter was mentioned on Friday before a three member bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. The Bench agreed to list the matter on Monday.

Earlier this week, the Delhi High Court quashed the technical evaluation process and the consequent award of the tender, holding that the evaluation suffered from arbitrariness, irrationality and lack of transparency.


The High Court delivered its judgment on a clutch of petitions filed by two bidders, travel technology platform eTrav Tech and digital signature certifying authority Verasys.

The two companies had challenged their disqualification in the technical-bid stage of the tender process. They argued that their marks were deducted arbitrarily and without any explanation. Due to this they were disqualified from being considered for the next step of financial evaluation.

The bidders moved the High Court challenging the legality, transparency and fairness of the decision-making process adopted by Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The petition was opposed by the Central government.

The High Court however found that the evaluation process was opaque, arbitrary, contrary to the principles of natural justice and fair administrative action. The High Court eventually concluded that the tender process suffered from arbitrariness, irrationality and lack of transparency. Aggrieved, the Centre has now moved the Supreme Court.