The Central Government has approached the Supreme Court to contest the Delhi High Court’s recent annulment of tenders concerning the outsourcing of Consular, Passport, and Visa (CPV) services at Indian Missions situated in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Singapore, and Canberra. This appeal is part of the case Union Of India v. E Trav Tech.
On Friday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta presented the matter before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana. The Court has agreed to hear this appeal on Monday, July 20.
Previously, on July 15, the Delhi High Court invalidated the technical evaluation process and the subsequent tender award, citing issues of arbitrariness, irrationality, and a lack of transparency. Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Shail Jain delivered this decision, addressing a series of petitions from two bidding entities—eTrav Tech, a travel technology platform, and Verasys, a digital signature certifying authority.
These companies challenged their exclusion from the tender’s technical-bid phase. They argued that their scores were unjustly reduced without explanation, resulting in their disqualification from further financial evaluation. The bidders took their grievances to the High Court, questioning the legality, transparency, and fairness of the evaluation method employed by the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
The Central Government opposed these petitions, contending that the bidders were revisiting issues previously settled by the courts, due to their failure to secure the contract. However, the High Court dismissed this argument, acknowledging that the petitions were based on a new cause of action, as the MEA had disclosed parameter-wise evaluation following a court directive.
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The High Court observed that the disclosed evaluations were flawed, citing unexplained deductions under objective criteria, inconsistent scoring, and the absence of documented justifications. The Court noted that the two companies received disproportionately low scores, without any explanations or indications of deficiencies in their proposals.
The High Court concluded that the evaluation process was opaque, arbitrary, and in violation of the principles of natural justice and fair administrative action. It held that the technical evaluation was unsustainable under Article 14 of the Constitution, thereby necessitating its nullification. Consequently, the Court invalidated the contract awarded to other private bidders.
In its ruling, the High Court directed the Central Government to initiate a fresh tender for CPV services across the four Indian missions within a month. Meanwhile, the current service providers are allowed to continue their operations until the new tender process is finalized. The Central Government has now escalated this ruling to the Supreme Court for review.
