In a decision with immediate operational repercussions for Indian travellers overseas, the Supreme Court on 20 July upheld a Delhi High Court ruling that scrapped the Ministry of External Affairs’ tender for outsourcing consular, passport and visa (CPV) services at four high-volume missions—Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Singapore and Canberra. The High Court had found the evaluation of technical bids “arbitrary and opaque”, violating basic procurement principles. Rejecting the government’s appeal, Chief Justice Surya Kant’s bench directed the Centre to issue a fresh, transparent Request for Proposal within three months. Until new contracts are in place, existing service providers may continue so that passport renewal, visa issuance and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) processing are not disrupted. Why it matters: 1) VFS Global and BLS International—the two largest incumbents—handle millions of Indian applications annually; any pause could have paralysed travel at the height of the summer rush. 2) Corporates rely on these outsourcing centres for fast-track business-visa and emergency-passport services; uncertain vendor status raises SLAs and data-security questions. 3) The judgment reinforces Indian courts’ willingness to police government outsourcing, signalling that opaque bid scoring will not stand. Practically, mobility managers should advise employees in the UAE, Australia, Kuwait and Singapore that services continue as normal, but appointment availability could tighten when new tenders are floated. Companies that bulk book CPV slots should monitor embassy notices and line up contingency plans—such as walk-in emergency requests—during the transition window. Vendors, for their part, will need to revisit bid documentation and compliance frameworks to meet stricter transparency thresholds. Long term, the ruling may prompt the MEA to standardise evaluation matrices across all missions, bringing greater predictability for service partners and applicants alike.
Source: The Indian Express
