Supreme Court refuses to intervene in Delhi HC decision on CPV tenders in four Indian missions
The Supreme Court on Monday (July 20, 2026) refused to intervene against a Delhi High Court decision to quash tenders outsourcing Consular, Passport and Visa
The Supreme Court on Monday (July 20, 2026) refused to intervene against a Delhi High Court decision to quash tenders outsourcing Consular, Passport and Visa (CPV) services at Indian missions in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Singapore and Canberra. A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the Union government, through the Ministry of External Affairs, was free to evolve a temporary mechanism to provide services “in a manner as may be appropriate” till fresh allocation of work was made to the lowest bidder (L1) after the new tender process was completed.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the government, said the High Court erroneously did not consider that the tender was finalised on the basis of the individual competence of the bidders. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for one of the thwarted bidders which had approached the High Court successfully, said the lower bids were ignored. But Justice Joymalya Bagchi referred to the High Court’s observation that the terms governing the assessment of bids had presented an “unworkable situation”.
In order not to disrupt CPV services any further, the court directed that the Ministry could temporarily continue to engage the incumbent contractors or the successful bidders from the earlier tender till a fresh Request for Proposal folowed by a fresh allocation of work was made. The court said the incumbents or the present bidders could accept the temporary arrangement at their own risk and would be subject to the final outcome of the new tender process, which had to be completed within three months.
The High Court, on July 15, had set aside the tendering of CPV services to the four missions on the ground that the technical evaluation of bidders lacked transparency and unfair. The High Court had directed the Ministry to put up fresh Requests for Proposal (RFPs) within a month.
The BriefWire