Indian passport services in UAE: Delhi High Court quashes Alhind's tender for Indian Consular Application Centres

Dubai: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday quashed the Indian Embassy’s contract to run Indian passport, visa and attestation services in the UAE to Alhind Tours and Travels LLC, according to a copy of the judgment seen by Gulf News.

The court has left open the question of whether the outgoing providers, BLS International and SGIVS Global Services, will now return as it said “incumbents may be permitted to continue providing the consular services.”

The court also directed the government to restart the procurement process not just in Abu Dhabi, but across three other missions as well.

Alhind was originally due to launch its Indian Consular Application Centres in the UAE on July 1, but the ongoing court case stalled the opening, forcing the Embassy and Consulate to step in and provide the services directly, 17 years after the missions had first outsourced the services.

The court had considered multiple related petitions against the bids for outsourcing of Consular/Passport/Visa (“CPV”) services at the Indian Missions in Abu Dhabi (UAE), Kuwait, Singapore and Canberra (Australia).

E Trav Tech Limited had challenged the technical evaluation of their bids in all four countries while Verasys Systems was also a petitioner in the case challenging the tender floated by the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

Ruling on W.P.(C) 6844/2026 and connected matters, the court found that the marks awarded to the petitioning companies during the technical evaluation could not be sustained in law.

The Court set aside the impugned technical evaluations, nullified the consequent award of tenders in favour of the successful bidders.

"Accordingly, the present Petitions are allowed. The impugned technical evaluation processes are set aside. Consequently, award of tender in favour of the private Respondents shall also stand nullified," the judgment states, effectively ending Alhind's selection as the UAE's new consular services operator.

The High Court directed the Union of India to issue fresh Requests for Proposal (“RFPs”) for the tendering process at all four missions within one month.

"The Respondent Nos.1 (the central government) and 2 (the respective Indian missions) are directed to issue fresh RFP for procurement of CPV Services across all four Missions, namely, Abu Dhabi (UAE), Kuwait, Singapore and Canberra (Australia), within a period of one month from the date of this judgment and make sincere efforts to conclude the process at the earliest," the judgment states.

On the question of who keeps the services running in the meantime, the judgment states: "Meanwhile, the existing incumbents may be permitted to continue providing the aforesaid services across all four Missions in order to ensure that there is no disruption in the provision of public services or inconvenience to the public, until the fresh tender process is concluded and the successful (L-1) bidders are selected in accordance with law."

The word "may" seemingly leaves this as an option rather than a direction, and who counts as the "existing incumbent" is not entirely straightforward.

BLS International and SGIVS Global Services ran passport and attestation services in the UAE before Alhind was selected, but both companies' contracts lapsed on June 30, and their centres have been shut since Alhind's takeover was originally due to begin on July 1.

By the time the judgment was delivered, it was the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate in Dubai that had stepped in directly, running limited walk-in and appointment-based services from their own premises since July 2.

On that basis, the missions themselves could equally be read as the current incumbent, meaning the ruling may simply allow that missions’ current arrangement to continue rather than requiring BLS or SGIVS to be brought back at all.

The judgment does not spell out which of these readings is intended, leaving it to the respondent authorities to decide how the interim period is actually handled.

The judgment also disposed of all pending applications connected to the matter. "All the pending applications also stand closed," it states.

Luthra and Luthra law offices India, the Indian law firm that represented petitioner E Trav Tech, described the outcome as a major victory. "Big win — Delhi High Court sets aside and nullifies award of consular/visa outsourcing tenders issued by Ministry of External Affairs for Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Singapore and Canberra Missions," the firm said.

Advocate Shreyansh Rathi, one of the lawyers with Luthra and Luthra who represented Etrav tech Ltd in the case, told Gulf News that the court has also directed the missions that existing service providers may be permitted to continue operations at all four missions until the fresh tender process is concluded, so as to avoid any disruption to the public.

The companies that won the contracts in other countries are IVS Global Services (Singapore), VFS Global (Australia) and Du Digital Global Ltd ( Kuwait), he added.

The ruling brings a resolution, for now, to a legal battle that began when E Trav Tech and Verasys, both of which lost out in the technical evaluation for the UAE ICAC tender, challenged the process before the Delhi High Court, arguing they were never told how they had scored or why they had been disqualified.

After the High Court initially upheld the government's discretion in scoring bids while agreeing that disqualified bidders deserved reasons for rejection, E Trav Tech approached the Supreme Court, which on June 24 ordered status quo without ruling on the merits and sent the matter back for urgent hearing.

The Delhi High Court subsequently clubbed all related petitions, hearing them on July 1 and July 2 before reserving and then delivering judgment.

With the tender quashed and a fresh RFP due within a month across Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Singapore and Canberra, the immediate question for the 4.5million-strong Indian expat community in the UAE is whether the missions choose to bring BLS and SGIVS back into the picture or simply continue running services themselves as they have done since July 2, until a new operator is finally chosen.

Gulf News has reached out to the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Indian Consulate in Dubai and is awaiting their response.

Currently, the applicants for all consular services have to book their appointments at both missions through a new booking portal book.passportindiauae.com.

The Indian Embassy allows walk-in applicants also from 9am till 11am on weekdays. However, no walk-in is permitted at the Indian Consulate in Dubai.