Centre moves Supreme Court against Delhi HC order quashing CPV tender process; hearing on Monday
New Delhi, July 17
The Union Government has moved the Supreme Court, challenging the Delhi High Court's judgement setting aside the tender awarded to private firms for outsourcing Consular, Passport and Visa services at Indian Missions in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Singapore and Canberra.
The Delhi High Court had quashed the tender process and directed the Centre to issue fresh Requests for Proposal (RFPs) within one month by inviting fresh bids for all four Missions.
The matter was mentioned on Friday before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union of India and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Accepting the request for urgent listing, the Bench agreed to hear the matter on Monday.
In its July 15 judgement, the Delhi High Court held that the technical evaluation process adopted by the MEA suffered from arbitrariness, irrationality and lack of transparency.
It observed that the authorities had failed to record and communicate reasons for awarding marks and rejecting bidders at the technical stage.
A Division Bench of Justice Anil Kshetrapal and Justice Shail Jain consequently set aside the technical evaluation as well as the award of the tenders in favour of the successful private firms.
However, to ensure continuity of consular services, the court allowed the existing service providers to continue until the fresh tender process is completed and new bidders are selected in accordance with law.
The High Court's judgement came on petitions filed by E Trav Tech Limited and Verasys Limited, which challenged their technical disqualification from the tender process for outsourcing CPV services at the four Indian missions.
The petitioners alleged that despite being awarded parameter-wise marks, no reasons were disclosed for the deductions or their disqualification.
— ANI
Reader Comments
As someone who has used CPV services at the Dubai mission, I can say the current system is already slow. If they restart the whole tender process, thousands of NRIs might face delays. The High Court's reasoning for transparency is valid, but the government should also consider operational continuity.
I'm a retired government officer. Tendering processes in India have always been plagued by opaqueness. The High Court has done the right thing by questioning the 'arbitrariness and irrationality'. However, the government's appeal shows they're more interested in defending their flawed process than fixing it. 🤔
Finally a court calling out the lack of transparency! It's shocking that even for something as crucial as passport services for overseas Indians, the government can't follow basic due diligence. MEA needs to clean up its act. Kudos to the Delhi High Court! 👏
I agree with the need for transparency, but completely scrapping the tender will cause chaos. The High Court's decision to let existing providers continue is sensible. Hopefully the Supreme Court doesn't just rubber-stamp the government's appeal. We need accountability at all levels.
As an NRI who just renewed my passport in the US, I can only imagine what a nightmare this would be for those in Abu Dhabi or Singapore. Our missions abroad already have long wait times. The government should focus on digital transformation rather than these messy tenders.
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