DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — India’s Supreme Court has upheld a Delhi High Court ruling that struck down the tender process for outsourced passport, visa and consular services at Indian missions in the UAE.
At the same time, the court moved to prevent disruption to services by allowing the Ministry of External Affairs to make temporary arrangements until a new tender is completed.
According to ANI, a bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant refused to interfere with the lower court’s ruling and directed the government to comply within three months.
The court said the ministry may continue with existing service providers or temporarily use the lowest bidders whose contracts had previously been set aside. It also allowed any other suitable arrangement needed to keep services running at the four Indian missions.
The interim setup will not give any party special rights and will remain in place only until a fresh tender process is finalized.
The case stems from the ministry’s overhaul of contracts for Indian Consular Application Centres abroad. In the UAE, long-time service providers BLS International and SGIVS Global were left out of the new process after BLS was barred from bidding.
Alhind Tours & Travels LLC later emerged as the successful bidder for UAE operations, with a handover originally planned for July 1.
Unsuccessful bidders challenged the technical evaluation of proposals before the Delhi High Court, which on July 15 quashed the tender process. The court said the scoring system was arbitrary, lacked transparency and violated fairness principles.
It also found that identical bids received different scores across missions without any clear explanation and ordered the ministry to issue fresh requests for proposals.
During Monday’s hearing, Chief Justice Surya Kant questioned the government’s case, saying the high court ruling had been invited by the ministry’s own approach.
The solicitor general argued that the bid-scoring system had to be read practically across several tenders and said a strict reading could produce unfair results. Another judge said that was exactly the concern raised by the Delhi High Court.
The government had also tried to submit tender records in sealed cover, but the bench declined to overturn the lower court’s order.
The ruling means passport and consular services for Indian nationals in the UAE will continue under temporary arrangements while the ministry prepares a fresh tender. Indian missions in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are already handling these services directly as the legal process continues.
Further direction from the ministry is expected in the coming weeks as the new tender process moves ahead.
